


30 Day OTP Challenge

by Demon_Cookie101



Category: Homestuck
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Additional tags will be added per chapter, EriSol - Freeform, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-15 17:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 28,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3455675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demon_Cookie101/pseuds/Demon_Cookie101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just my interpretation of the 30 Day OTP Challenge featuring everyone's "favourite" dorks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 1 - Holding Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Additional Tags: #post game

The first time you held his hand, Eridan looked like he was going to hit you.

It had been spontaneous, random. You just reached down and grabbed his hand, didn’t even look at him even as you felt his stare boring into the side of your head. You just kept walking, pulling him with you.

And when you finally did look back at him, the both of you were well away from Karkat’s squabbling with Dave and were standing by one of the New World’s beaches. The air was clear, and you had it on good authority from both seadwellers that the water was the cleanest they’d even seen. You tended to avoid the water more often than not, but this time you’d been dragged out of your comfortable dimly lit room and forced into fresh air and non-violent sunshine. It was gross.

But for some reason pretentious douchefish Eridan made it better. Karkat had dragged him along as well, something about making sure he didn’t go completely reclusive. Eridan had toned down his appearance a lot, it wasn't all gaudy purples and flashy golds and capes. The guy actually had a fashion sense, much to your disbelief.  
Right now he was wearing just a dark button up with the sleeves rolled up and the skinniest jeans you had even seen from either race, and Dave made it a point to wear skinny jeans a lot. Eridan didn’t even have a scarf on, his gills bare to the now evening air.

He was still staring at you, even though you remained stubbornly watching the water. Screw it, you just wanted to hold his hand. Being stuck in a sprite with him did things to you, so what if you developed some feelings and things that usually would make you want to smash things with your psionics.  
“You gonna tell me why you’re holdin’ my hand?”  
“Maybe I wanted to.”  
“So no particular reason?”  
“No Eridan. There is no particular reason so either shut up and hold my hand or go back to KK.” If he shut up that’d make this awkward situation go a hell of a lot easier.

It took a bit, but Eridan readjusted his grip, shifting his hand in yours and slowly, carefully intertwining your fingers together. He stood closer to you, watching the water silently.  
And honestly, even if you wanted to, you couldn’t stop the small, slightly smug smile that appeared on your face, even when Eridan noticed and huffed beside you.

His cheeks were ghosted with the lightest purple, and his fins were fluttering gently. You squeezed his fingers, other hand shoved deep in your pocket. 

This was nice. Maybe you could get used to the thought that Eridan wasn’t that much of a shithead anymore. Maybe you could entertain the thought of having him around a bit more than you used to think you could handle.

What could you say, it was quiet in your head without him. Having actual physical Eridan was the best replacement you could find.


	2. Day 2 - Cuddling somewhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #eridan is a bouncer #sollux has no idea what regular sleep patterns are #established relationships

Your boyfriend, without a doubt, is an idiot.

You tended to get home from work late, depending on what time your shift ended, and tonight happened to be one of the nights when you were left to close up.

The little club was alright, paid good money and was close enough that you didn’t have to walk that far. Plus it helped pay for both the apartment and your university degree.

But back to the topic on hand, your boyfriend is a complete and utter idiot.

He’d fallen asleep on top of his laptop again, face smushed against the side and thankfully not against the keys again. You’re generally alright at reading the lines of code, having Sollux as a boyfriend and said boyfriend being prone to crashing on his laptop meant you had to be so you could see where the code started going stupid and sleepy and get rid of it so he wasn’t in a pissy mood this morning.  
it was annoying though, because you weren’t as fast as reading it and then it took time out of your very busy schedule of cuddling up to sleepy Sollux and zoning off for the night.

Thank god it was weekend, the late shifts really did you in sometimes.

Sollux grumbled softly at you when you gently coaxed him away from his laptop, moving his swivel chair further back and saving his progress on his code before sending his laptop to sleep.

Another grumble was all you got when you tried to get Sollux out of the chair and into your shared bedroom.  
“Eridan fuck off… lemme…. Do that thing with the shut eye…”  
“Sleep?”  
“Yeah…”  
Aaaaand he’s off snoring again, half propped up against your shoulder.  
An eyeroll was appropriate in this situation, so an eyeroll he got despite that Sollux can't see it.

You both stumble walked into your bedroom, Sollux flopping down face first onto the bed and spreading his gangly limbs wide. Well fuck you too then.  
“Nooo ED ge’ back here…”  
“I’m goin’ t’ shower you idiot. Just go to sleep already.”  
“Nnn ‘kay.”  
Its always so obvious when Sollux has been on a coding binge. You’ve felt and heard him leave the bed when he thinks you’re asleep and go into the study to sit down in his fucking squeaky ass swivel chair and clack away at the keys.  
It drives you mad.  
You understand why he does it, he gets twitchy fingers sometimes and coding helps that. Just like running and drawing help you when you’ve got the twitches and fidgets.  
But sometimes you wish he would actually take a bit more care of himself when he falls into one.

Another look at your sleepy boyfriend and you heard to the bathroom, twisting the knobs until the hot water comes through and stripping off the clothes you wore to work.  
There’s a faint bruise from a days back when some drunkard tried to get up in this girls space. You got called over to deflect it and the asshole took a swing at you.  
Club rules says you cant hit them back, you just get to throw them out onto the street with as much force as you wish.  
You don’t even think Sollux has noticed the bruise.  
It feels like there’s another forming on your shoulder when you were helping the girl behind the bar with some boxes out back and an entire crate of alcohol fell off the stack and landed right on your shoulder.  
  
Sollux is flat out asleep when you enter the room again, mouth half open and his glasses pressed against the side of his head. Nerd.  
You remove them, and grab your books, heading for the couch for some late night studying when a hand stops you.  
“You’re bruised.” His lisp gets so much thicker when he’s tired, it’s adorable.  
“I am aware of that.”  
“Fucking- don’t smart ass me Eridan. C’mere. Wanna cuddle.” He’s also completely and utterly open about what he wants when he’s tired, usually its little hints as to when he wants you to do something.  
“I have to study.”  
“You have to sleep.”  
“ _You_ have to sleep.”  
“ED.”  
“Sol.”  
“Get in the fucking bed.”

He drags you into bed. Not that youre complaining… that much.  
“Why’re you bruised?”  
“Work.”  
“Why’s this one look like a fist and this one look like a stick.”  
“Assholes and a crate.”  
“Do I have to explode some computers?”  
“No Sol. Go to sleep.”  
“You go to sleep.”

  
Sollux Captor is impossible.

He is also unfairly cute when he smiles at you, and yeah maybe you melt a little bit, pulling off your glasses and cuddling close to him, arms wrapped around his waist.

“Love you.”  
“Yeah yeah go to sleep…”  
He smiles again and you return it, kissing his forehead.  
“Love you too you nerd.”


	3. Day 3 - Playing a game / watching a movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #sollux is oblivious and greyromantic #kinda.

Eridan always played games in weird positions.

He never sat normally, either his legs were thrown over the arm of the couch and he was half bent resting on his elbow with the controller in his hand, or he was lying upside down with the blood rushing to his face, or he was sitting on the floor with his legs resting on the coffee table.

You don’t think you’ve ever seen him sit normally in the entire time he’s been your roommate.

Another thing about Eridan, he’s insanely good at first person shooters.

The game is old, just like the console you nicked from your brother when you moved out, but it runs well and it’s entertaining when the both of you are hyped up on caffeine and coming out of exam week.

Eridan’s sitting more normally this time round, curled up against the far arm of the couch with one leg thrown over the arm, in nothing but sweats. You’re not much better, sprawled out in boxers and a really old tee that seriously needs to visit the bin. Whatever, it’s comfortable.

You’re playing split screen Star Wars Battlefront, and Eridan’s head count is now almost embarrassingly higher than your own.

“I seriously do not understand why you are good at first person shooters. You’re a prissy fucking rich kid for Christ’s sakes.”  
“I told you. Da had me on the shootin’ range since I’ve been old enough to hold a gun.” Oh yeah, he did mention that fact now that you think about it. “Plus I go paintballin’ an’ stuff with Cro often enough.”

You’re on opposite teams, and it’s getting worse and worse as the night, now probably morning if your watch is right, goes on.

You fling a pillow at his face when he wins again, showing the green of success on his side and the red of defeat on yours.

“Yeah yeah shut up asshole. No need to rub it in.”  
Eridan stretched, dropping his controller and stretching his legs out before flopping back with a sigh.   
“I feel like we should play one more round, but I’m getting’ bored. Do you have anythin’ else?”

One thing you will never ever admit about Eridan Ampora. When he’s not trying to impress anyone or be a little uppity bitch, he’s hot as fuck.

Like now.

You feel like a bit of a perv, watching him through your glasses as he sprawls further over the couch, head tipped towards you and eyes closed behind his glasses, completely at ease.  
His hair isn’t even styled. It’s doing things to your heart and your dick that you’d rather it not.

He’s a diva and a whiny asshole at the best of times.

But he makes one of the best hot chocolates you’ve ever tasted and is great to play games with. Even if does always win at FPS. And he’s good when you’ve got the really bad migraines, he closes the blinds in your room and gets the prescribed tablets for you without even being asked now.

You sort of maybe kind of just a little bit want to kiss him.

“Sol. Soooool. Sollux. Sollux. Solluxander fucking Captor yoo hoo.”  
“What?”  
“I said I’m gonna make hot chocolate. Do you want one?”  
“Fuck yes.”  
He’s also really cute when he does the little half grin.

Fuck it.

Holy shit he squeaked. Eridan actually squeaked. True, you kissed him kind of out of the blue but he just squeaked. That’s both adorable and the funniest thing you’ve ever heard.   
“W-Wha?”  
“Can I have two marshmallows?”  
“You’re gonna fuckin’ kiss me then act like it’s nothin’? The fuck was that Sol?”  
“I just kissed you calm down.”  
“No! I-”  
“Eridan I swear to god don’t look too deeply into it. I just wanted to kiss you. Chill the fuck out.”  
“Sollux-”  
He didn’t squeak this time. Damn. He also didn’t kiss back. That’s annoying.   
Eridan was desperate enough to take a kiss from you, right?

He just looked confused and lost when you pulled back, eyes wide and hair flopping absolutely everywhere.   
“Eridan?”  
“Is this gonna be a onetime thing?”  
“I just kissed you twice.”  
“You do everythin’ in twos…”  
“So?”  
“So is this gonna be a onetime thing?”  
“I dunno. Do you want it to be?” You… hadn’t actually thought about dealing with Eridan like that. Romantic attraction to things didn’t really do anything for you. Socialising in general did nothing to you. But maybe you could learn to deal with people in that way.

Plus Eridan was seriously fucking cute when he was flustered.   
“Um… maybe? You’ve never shown interest in me before though so…?”  
“What did I say about don’t look to deep into it ED? If you don’t want to try anything like that with me than consider this a onetime thing.”  
“I never said that. You’ve just always brushed me off when I tried to instigate anythin’ with you.”

“What?”  
“You… hadn’t noticed? I mean, even Kar an’ that told me to stop bein’ desperate an’ just ask you out instead of droppin’ tiny hints.”  
“The fuck are you going on about? I kissed you on a whim.”  
“Oh… nothin’ then. I’m just gonna go make hot chocolate now.” He stood up and hurried off to the kitchen, leaving you more confused than ever. Fuck all you wanted was to see what it was like to kiss him. You didn’t know he had a thing for you. Or felt anything towards you.

What the actual fuck.

Is this a dream?

“Eridan lemme get this straight. Did you actually have a thing for me?”  
“Yes? No? I dunno. It doesn’t matter anyway.”  
“How long?”  
“Not long I swear. Sol fuck, if that was just on a whim then let’s just leave it at that okay. No need to make it anymore awkward…”  
“So if I kissed you again you wouldn’t flip your shit?”  
“Wh-!”  
Heh. Yeah. That was definitely something you enjoyed being able to do. The smirk was in full swing on your face when you pulled back to look at him

Aw look at him getting all flustered.

“Eh. I think I’ll be alright with you.”  
“Like that?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Okay.”  
“That also means you have to actually loose at a FPS for once.”  
“Oh fuck off you dipshit. You win at every other game.”  
He smiled though, and turned back to the hot chocolate.

Yeah, you’re pretty sure you’re going to be okay with him like that.

That ass was damn tappable anyway.

 


	4. Day 4 - On a date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #established relationship

To say you were nervous was one thing.

To say you were late was another thing.

It was your first technically official date with Sollux that didn’t involve games and/or grinding on each other on the couch. Which, while excessively fun and very entertaining to see his face, was a sort of new experience for you seeing as actual dates are not a thing you're good at.

But you’re late, and panicking, and trying to weave through traffic and text Sollux without crashing.  
The date wasn’t really going to be anything fancy, and while you’d love to see Sollux in a suit, you know he hated social outings with a passion and trying to get him in anything would be a nightmare and a half.

You love him, you really do, but his fashion is awful and his manners are atrocious (though yours honestly aren't that much better).

You manage to send a somewhat coherent text to him, honking your horn angrily and weaving through another set of slow drivers. You were nearly half an hour late and close to crying. You weren’t even going to be late to start with but then traffic and you forgot something and had to go back and everything just fell to pieces.

There wasn’t any parking along the beachfront. At all. A second drive down the road showed a little old lady pulling out, and despite the now angry honking cars behind you, you waited patiently (or as patiently as you could) for the woman to pull out and zip into the empty spot.

Thirty five minutes late.

Sollux wasn’t anywhere to be found.

You know he tended to get bored and repulsed by the general outside really quickly, and there is the probability that he went home to go work on some codes or something. Oh god you hope he didn’t.

You send him another text and sat down on the concrete wall that lead down to the beach, staring down at your phone and chewing your thumbnail to bits.

Maybe he did go home.

Your shoulders slumped and you sighed in frustration, feeling the beginning of tears pricking at the back of your eyes. Running a hand through your hair effectively ruined whatever do you’d hastily put it in, not that it really mattered.

A quick glance around showed no little kids to be anywhere within hearing range, so very expressive swearing was instantly a thing, one hand running angrily through your hair and the other clutching your phone, eyes squeezed shut in absolute frustration at the unfairness of today.

“Don’t do that you idiot.”

A hand on your own pulled it away from your hair, another tilting your chin up. Sollux was standing in front of you, one eyebrow raised and dressed casually enough.  
“Fuck Sol.” You pushed yourself off the wall, landing in the sand with a soft thump and hugging him closer, face pressed against the shoulder.  
“Hey ED. You’re late.”  
Of course, he’s probably going to be a shit about it.  
“I _know_ fuck don’t remind me. I’m sorry.”  
He just laughed softly, one hand combing through your hair gently to push it back into something more relaxed.  
“Do you know how late you were?”  
“…”  
“Thirty five minutes late. I counted. And do you know what that means?”  
“… thirty five days sleepin’ on the couch?”  
He pulled back to look at you, rolling his eyes and bopping you on the nose. “No, fuck no. Jeez ED no need to go so extreme.” He looked pretty smug about whatever it was you were going to have to do, so you guess it’s not a really bad thing.  
“What then?”  
“I’m torn between making you be the little spoon thirty five times, or just giving me thirty five kisses.”  
“… How about both? Will that make it up to you?”  
He looked like he was contemplating it, dick.

Sollux laughed when you mock punched his shoulder, cuffing you over the back of the head and pulling you in for a kiss a second later, “Yeah both is fine. Now come on, I found a chippy that does really fucking good chips and I solidly plan on spending the rest of the night with you, because we are still technically on a date.”

You smiled at him, kissing his cheek and holding his hand as the two of you started to walk off down the beach, you pausing to take your shoes off because walking in sand barefoot is always better than walking in sand with shoes on.

“Oh and Eridan?”  
“Mhm?”  
“Don’t you ever fucking text and drive again asshole.”


	5. Day 5 - Kissing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #post sprite #quadrant vacillation #quadrant confusion

Let’s face it, Eridan wasn’t the best kisser out there.

Maybe it was because he had insanely sharp shark teeth.

Maybe it was because he’d never kissed anyone ever.

The world may never know.

Well, you do. Because you’ve been inside his head, and you know for a fact that it’s both of those and more.  
He’s never kissed anyone, not even Vriska when she was his kismesis. Not even pale kisses or whatever the seadweller equivalent is when he and Feferi were pale. You were his first, and that was one of the most awkward things you’ve ever done.

Now you’d like to say you’re pretty experienced in the art of kissing, and compared to Eridan you’re a master. But anyone would be a master compared to him. It had happened after you’d exploded as a sprite.

You’d both woken up in some bubble, you flat on your face him flat on his back. It was about twenty minutes of confusion and figuring out what the fuck happened. Then you got pissy at him, he got pissy at you, and then you forget how it devolved into both of you messily making out on the floor of some bubble. You had holes in your lips from his teeth for at least three days after.

Holes in your lips and a desire to kiss him again, if only to show him how to kiss.

So you did. Kind of. You found him occasionally through the bubbles, always alone, which is completely understandable. And it always ended up with you macking on his face on way or another. And not always in a necessarily black way either. You found him crying once.

And being stuck in his head gave you too much access to memories that weren’t yours about things you never wanted to see.

Crying Eridan, actually proper crying not wailing for attention, was horrible.

He cried quietly, and away from the world.

You kissed him like you loved him that time. It was very different.

It’s different this time as well. Everything was different this time. The way you had found him was different (he’d found you apparently by accident), the way you were fighting was different (half-hearted insults and barely any fight in him) and the way he kissed you back was different. There was something _wrong_. Something was wrong and it was pissing you off.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” He didn’t even react when you flipped you both over, pinning him down by his shoulders and straddling his waist.  
“There is nothin’ wrong with me.” The fuck is going _on_?!  
“Eridan I swear to god what the shit is wrong with you.”  
“There is nothin’ fuckin’ wrong with me you imbecile. You’re the one fuckin’ goin’ round kissin’ me an’ actin’ all weird.”  
“I’ve been kissing you since we exploded!”  
“And that’s all you do! Sometimes you kiss me like you hate me and others you kiss me like you actually give a shit about me! It’s confusin’ as fuck and I _hate_ it.” He looked so angry and lost and confused and dammit you just wanted to kiss him. He _was_ getting better at it. Mainly because of how much you were kissing him. But still.  
“What does it matter to you?” You know what it matters to him. You’ve been in his head, you know how he feels about these kind of things, just like he knows you do.  
“What _matters_ is that you don’t give a single shit how you kiss me an’ then once you’ve gone an’ gotten your fill or whatever the fuck you’re getting’ from kissin’ me, you leave.”  
“Maybe I give a shit about you! Did you ever think about it that way?” With alarming horror you realise that’s actually true. You do care about him, in some weird twisted hate/pity way. It’s like duality fucked you upside the head and left you in shambles for a troll you despised and spent too much time getting all familiar with.  
“No I don’t! You hate me! I spent however the fuck long as a sprite with you listenin’ to you rant an’ rave about what I do an’ how much of a pain it is bein’ stuck with me!”  
“You were complaining just as much!”  
“AT LEAST I DIDN’T FUCKIN’ PULL INSULTS FROM THE CORNERS OF MY PAN AN’ ACCUSATIONS OUTTA MY ASS TO FLING AT MY FUCKIN’ MINDMATE!” His shout catches you off guard, making your mouth snap shut and your whites eyes grow wide. What? You didn’t do that too often, you only did it when you wanted him to shut up and retreat back over to his side of the mind because you knew that’s what it’d do. You just… did what you always did to him.

He’s watching you carefully now, fins pulled back against his head and the corner of his lips pulled down. “So you can imagine what I’m feelin’ now. The master a fuckin’ duality’s got it in his pan for another way to fuck a troll over. Good job Sol. Congratulations.”  
“I wasn’t doing it for that reason!”  
“Then why the fuck have you been kissin’ me?”  
“Because I genuinely wanted to! I was in your mind just as much as you were in mine Eridan, I’ve seen everything. Maybe I just wanted to kiss you. Why do you always look into everything so fucking deeply?”  
“You _hate_ me-“  
“Well maybe I fucking pity you a bit too.”

This is why you never did physical interaction with other trolls. It was much too difficult. Especially with clingy fucks like Eridan.

But, if you’re completely honest with yourself, your time as a sprite did you some good. It did Eridan a world of good, being able to see all his actions from someone else’s point of view.

And so what if maybe you got a little bit attached to him.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Just…” You can’t help the sigh now, even as you just flop on top of him and drop the end of his scarf over his face to shut him up, “go with it. For now. I like kissing you, even if you fucking suck at it.”  
“Rude.”  
“Dick.”  
“Idiot.”  
“Asshole.”  
“Four-eyed monkey fucker.”  
“Ouch, harsh.”  
“Oh shut up Sol.”  
“I’ll shut you up.”  
“No you won’t.”  
“Wanna bet?”  
“Yes.”

Well, he did _technically_ ask for it this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has kudos'd, bookmarked, etc!


	6. Day 6 - Wearing each others clothes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #pale relationship

“You’re wearin’ my clothes.”

And he looked fucking adorable in them. Which wasn’t something you were going to say aloud. Sollux would so not have taken that well should you have said that. So it stays right where it belongs, in your mind next to the image of him wrapped up in one of your warmest jumpers and what looks to be your comfy pants.

His glare looked like it could fry a hunk of meat.

“It’s cold as fuck in your hive okay? And you were gone for ages and this was the warmest shit I could find that didn’t involve trying to find where the shit you store you sopor for your coon.”  
“I use sopor patches Sol. That shit in my gills is so not fun.”  
“Shut up.”  
And yeah, it’s true, your hive did get pretty cold. Especially during the dark season.   
Which it resulted in your oh-so-dear moirail wearing your clothes.

“Well what am I goin’ ta wear now? I’m cold too.”

Sollux rolled his eyes, standing up and beckoning you closer. Your moult made you, finally fucking finally, taller than him. He came up to your chin now, and you were finally filling out properly into absolute seadweller physique. Which you found absolutely amusing. Sollux just shoved you off the couch last time you mentioned it.

“C’mere you whining wriggler.”   
“You’re so kind to me, dearest moirail a mine.”  
“Eridan sit the fuck down now or I’m gonna curl up back in these nice warm blankets and your obscenely warm clothing and beat the crap out of this damn game by myself.” He’s grinning though, so you think you’re alright.

He’s also got bags around his eyes again and his eyes looked too tired in the way that said he’d had another migraine while you were out. You’d only been gone three days. And you had offered to drop him off back at his own hive so that he wouldn’t be caught out in the storm you’d _told_  him was coming.  
“Eridan sit down.”  
“You had another migraine didn’t you. Are you okay?”  
He only sighed, motioning for you to sit down. Which you did because it was cold and you were maybe shivering now. And he was warm and comfortable.   
“Sol-.”  
“Eridan I’m fine. It wasn’t even that bad and I took some of the pills you got for me. I’m fine, okay? So just shut up and warm up I can see you shivering from here.”  
“But-.”  
He papped you right on your nose, one hand going to your left fin and the other staying on your cheek.  
He knew that's what worked the best.

If you were completely and utterly honest, Sollux was a lot better at this moirail crap then you will probably ever be. Seeing as your only other pale quadrant was with Feferi and that obviously did no end well.

Highbloods aren’t very good with quadrants. Any quadrant. You weren’t good in black, or in your past pale.

And you were trying so hard with this one. Half the time you spent more attention on Sollux then even the basic things you had to do with yourself.

Which hopefully Sollux hasn’t caught onto yet.

“Eridan.”  
“Mhhmmnmm.” You just burrowed closer to him, yanking off your soaked coat and kicking off your boots, shoving your way to curl up in the blankets with him.  
“My clothes warm enough for you oh tender lowblood?”  
“Yup. How you managed to own something this warm and comfortable and alright looking is beyond me. It’s not even purple.”  
Rude. He caught your eye roll and laughed, hugging you close and pulling his console closer to him, tapping away at the screen. “You finish you thing up alright?”  
“Yeah… Wasn’t much trouble in th’ first place. Only reason it took so long was I got launched into a whip-swell.”  
“Is that the thing where it sends you swirling in the wrong direction to where you want to go?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Fun.”

Sollux was better at this moirail shit, but it was your job to take care of him just as much as he calmed you.

Even if it meant giving up your warmest clothing for him in the dark season.

“Pale as th’ moon f’ you Sol.”  
“Pale as stars, ED.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> technically sollux is the one wearing eridans clothes... but close enough i guess.  
> Thanks for reading :)


	7. Day 7 - Cosplaying/Flarping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #flarping #quadrant confusion

Eridan did really, really good barkbeast’s eyes.

“No.”  
“C’mooooon Sol. Please? It won’t even be a big run. It’s just low level shit. We don’t even have to go for the whole run.”  
“No Eridan. Not only does that mean I have to actually interact with other trolls, it also means I have to dress up as someone I’m not.”

His shoulders slumped, and you could tell he’d really really wanted to do this with you.  
It’s just… social interaction is not your thing. Especially with a bunch of other trolls, high bloods no less.

“The highest blood there’s gonna be me, so you’ll have nothin’ to fear.”  
“Eridan you’re the last possible colour on the spectrum that’s not Feferi’s. There _is_ nothing higher than you that isn’t FF.”  
“Sol you know what I mean. There’s gonna be a few teals an’ the rest are below.”  
“No Eridan. I don’t even have a costume.”  
“…”  
“You didn’t.”  
“Well… I found it a while ago an’ thought it’d be good if you ever wanted to come with me flarpin’ an’ now there’s an opportunity but it’s not like I specifically went to go find somethin’ for you!”  
“I can not believe you.”

He just sighed, running a hand trhoguh his hair in probable frustration. You just roll your eyes, crossing your arms and leaning back in your chair.

“Please Sol? Just this once an’ I’ll never ask you to come out with me again. Like not even to the formals an’ parties an’ shit I have to go to.”  
You raised both eyebrows, watching him. He was always asking you to accompany him to the parties he was invited to. Always asking, and you’ve gone with him twice. Both times a fight broke out, one a minor scuffle over something unimportant, the other ended up with you having a black eye and bruised ribs and Eridan with a torn fin and absolute murder in his eyes. Feferi had him sent out before he could get at the other troll properly.

But this was different. Flarping was, in your opinion, worse. Much worse. Much higher chance of dying.   
“Sol I swear on my honour as a highblood that I will not let any harm come to you. It’s just gonna be a low level run, nothin’ even remotely like what Vris an’ I do. I just want you to come with me, just once, an’ the script these shitheads called for would work better with a psionic.”

Eridan can do the fucking barkbeast’s eyes insanely good.

It must come from being a seadweller and having weird eyes. But he can do it really well and your resolve is crumbling.

Your fucking kismaterail whatever the fuck he was to you, unfortunately had you hooked better than a fish.

“Fine.”  
“Really?” He was also fucking adorable when he was genuinely excited about something.  
“It’ll be fun I swear Sol. You won’t even have to do much talkin’ if you don’t want to.”  
You sighed, and let him hug you, his fluttering earfins whapping you in the face. “Okay okay jeez calm down ED, it’s not that great of a thing.”  
“It is to me.”

You hope you don’t end up regretting this.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for this one being so short. I'm trying to make them all 700-1000 words long but this one is sadly a bit shorter.  
> But thank you for reading!


	8. Day 8 - Shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #established relationship

“So what are you looking for again?”

Sollux looked at you with the most exasperated expression you had seen this week. Which is saying something. “Graphics cards, new headset, and the rest of the games you didn’t get me for Christmas.”  
“I _got_ you a new headset like two weeks ago! Did you break it or somethin’?” He better fucking not have. You’d spent ages contemplating over what kind to get him, consulting both Karkat and Terezi on headset types and even bugging Cronus to ask Mituna for you. And Sollux had been very excited when he got it, and it got you really good sex that night but if he has fucking broken it now you were going to exile him to the couch for a month. “Tell me you didn’t fucking break it Sollux.”  
“No I didn’t! It’s for work, I ah… accidently managed to snap the wiring in the mic because my floor manager is a dick and they’re making me buy a new one. Eridan I wouldn’t have broken that headset even if I life depended on it. Gimme a bit of credit.”  
“How did you “accidentally” snap the wirin’. Wirin’s encased in fuckin’ plastic Sol. You’re bullshittin’ me or somethin’?”  
“No! Okay maybe snap is not the right word but I fucked up the wiring because I yanked the cords out.”

You glared at him, eyebrows furrowed. The shop you were in was some technology game store bullshit. And you were only with him at this moment in time because you had to pick up a pre-order you’d done ages ago and a maybe a new game and plus Sollux agreed to come with you across the mall to buy some more clothes.  
“I swear Sol if you broke it you’re stuck on the couch for a month. An’ no kisses. At all for a month.”  
“You are evil.”  
“You’re not good with takin’ care’a your possessions.”

Sollux just rolled his eyes and tugged you further into the store.

You spent nearly two hours in there, with Sollux arguing with several people over the graphics card he wanted for his Asus and the game he wanted or whatever the hell he was saying. You’d already gone and grabbed your pre-order, and it was hanging off the bag on your arm.  
“Sol. Sooool. Sol I’m headin’ to go get some shit. You comin’?”  
All he did was flap a hand at you, face screwed up slightly in that concentrating way of his.

Well fine then.

You ended up in the tea store next to the clothing store you wanted to go in. They had free samples out, so you literally spent twenty minutes deciding between types of tea and talking with the woman behind the counter.

Your phone buzzed twice in the time you were talking, both times you ignored it. Whoever it was could wait a damn fucking second. You ended up with six different types of tea by the time you left the store. The Ginger Kiss would have to be the one you were trying first, then maybe Artic Fire because wow tea with cool names.

You phone was ringing again, a frantic buzzing in your pocket that kept on going even as you were jostling your bag to pull it out of your skinnies.  
“What?!”  
“Oh thank fuck. Where the hell are you?”  
“I told you where I was goin’ Sol.”  
“Well you’re not where you said you were going!”  
“I’m at that Tea Time store, right next fucking door. Which if you’d looked you would’ve seen me.”  
“Eridan-.”  
“I’m standin’ outside now. So just come find me.” You hung up on him, huffing and sitting down on the bench outside the store.  
It wasn’t long before Sollux came hurrying out of the store, face all worried and arms full of bags.  
“I told you where I was goin’ Sol.”  
“But you weren’t there. I thought you’d gone home or something.”  
“Nah I was in there. Getting’ new teas an’ shit.”  
“I didn’t even notice you leave.”

You felt your expression sour, your face closing up as you glared at him. “Wow thanks Sol. Good to know you’re so attentive a what I do.” You stood up, checking your phone for the time and twisting to go head to the exit.  
“No Eridan I didn’t mean it like that. I heardyou tell me you were leaving but I didn’t know you’d actually left. I thought you were just telling me.”  
“Don’t care. Are you done?”  
“Eridan-.”  
“Not really interested at the moment Sollux.”  
“Eridan I was getting you a present. It’s why I took so long with the graphics card and everything.”

You stopped to stare at him, eyebrows furrowed. Sollux ran a hand through his hair, which looked hilarious seeing as he had like three bags per arm.

You held out your arms out, taking a few bags from him and grasping one of his hands in yours.  
“And you didn’t say anythin’ why?”  
“It was gonna be a surprise, but then I turned around once I’d finished to see what games you like and you were gone. So I tried texting you and calling you and you didn’t pick up so I thought you got diva pissy at me again and left.”  
“You do understand I generally take about as long as you did just then when I’m out thriftin’.”  
“I know. It’s why I was confused.”  
You sighed and tugged him with you, opening the boot of your car.  
“So why did you get me all this stuff?”  
“So your computer will run better and you can finally run those games you’ve been whining at me about for the past three months.”  
“Oh.” Yeah so maybe getting pissy at him for taking his time was a bad thing on your part.

You leant over to kiss his cheek, squeezing his fingers and pulling your hand away to start the car.

“What’d you get?”  
“Some tea an’ the new Super Smash.”  
“You know I’m going to beat your ass at that.”  
“No you’re not.”  
“Wanna bet.”  
“Loser’s on cleaning up duty for a week.”  
“You’re on.”

 


	9. Day 9 - Hanging out with friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #implied sexual content #implied davekat #implied johndave... kinda #humanstuck

“Karkat no.”  
“Sollux yes.”  
“No. Nooooo why are you making me do this? What’ve I ever done to you?”  
“Sollux for fucks sake it’s just a party. You just need to be there for an hour or so then you can fuck off home.”  
“KK it’s a _party._ Which means _social interaction._ I don’t want to go.”  
“… Eridan’s going.”  
“What?”  
You really, really, _really_ want to slap your best friend. He just looked smug, arms crossed over his barrel chest and smugass smirk turned up at you.

He’d been lording the fact that you maybe or maybe not have a thing for your friend/whiny douchebag/hottie in skinnies/arrogant dorky prick Eridan. Which is sort of true. You do have a thing for him, mainly his dick. Also that ass.

Like daym.

Anyway, you may or may not have gotten completely shit-faced drunk while you were over Karkat’s playing video games and you may or may not have blurted that you have a minute thing for Eridan.

“Sollux stop daydreaming over Ampora’s ass. You’re coming with me to this asshole party whether you like it or not.”  
“I don’t want to gooooo.”  
“I’ll get Aradia into this.”  
“Oh fuck no. C’mon KK you’re not that mean.”

He reached for his phone and your decision made itself for you.  
“Whelp would you look at that! I’ve had a sudden decision change and ooh what a lovely night it is for a party.”  
“If I tell you Eridan has a thing for you too will you stop being such a sarcastic piece of shit and just go screw the desperate fucker already. Or be screwed, whichever.”  
“What?”  
He sighed, and you just frowned. So calling bullshit on that.  
“C’mon. I’d rather not arrive late.”

And that’s how you ended up at some shitty party which had the music turned up way too loud and the lights were completely non-existent meaning you tripped over practically everything.

“Fef I don’t wanna. Can I go home _now?_ I dunno even why you dragged me along to this piss poor gatherin’ a useless excuses of humans.”  
“Eridan! Stop being so rude!”  
“What I’m just sayin’.”  
“You’re always just saying, dickhead.”  
“Hey Kar, Sol.”  
Eridan smiled at you both, the sleeves of his impossibly tight looking shirt rolled up to his elbows. Ugh why did he have to be attractive? His personality so did not go with the impeccable way he styled himself.

You kind of maybe want to socialise with him more than you already do.

And maybe kiss him.

Just maybe.

“Sol. Sooool. Oi!”  
“What? The fuck you want?”  
“Kar an’ Fef fucked off because Kar’s intent on getting’ some Strider dick an’ I dunno where Fef’s goin’?”  
“Strider dick? KK wants-?”  
“Eyup. Ne’er guessed it myself but he just bypassed John so I’m guessing they’re no longer doin’ horizontal Harlem shake.”  
“Are you fucking serious right now ED. Horizontal Harlem shake? Really?”  
“Oh shut up. Dave’s been blarin’ that song at me for ages. It’s completely gone out of style an’ he sees it as fit to blast it on his phone whenever Kar drags him over.”  
“Ten bucks he puts it on tonight.” Eridan blanched, pulling a face and shuddering. He grabbed you wrist, much to your surprise, and dragged you back towards the front door. “C’mon. Let’s get the fuck outta here before he starts playin’ any’a his shit music. His mixes I don’t mind, but his music taste is horrible.”  
You don’t mind being dragged along, not at all. You wonder where you’re gonna end up. “Is it worse than yours?”  
He shot you a look, rolling his eyes as he slowed to a walk down the darkening street. He still hadn’t let go of your hand. You took the chance, shifting his grip slightly and sliding your hand to properly grasp his.

So totally ignoring the look on his face now.

Mostly because it’s adorable as fuck.

“So where are you dragging me?”  
“We-ell… I was gonna head home… so if you wanted to come with me I guess you could?”  
You looked at him, stopping on the corner of the street and looking at him. He looked so bashfully shy, glancing away from your direct stare before instantly looking straight back at you. Aw, he can’t decide what facial expression to fall on, you can see it in the way the emotions shift on his face.  
“I don’t think I’d mind going back with you. What do you propose we do at your place?”  
He shrugged, “I got a few new games last week. I could kick your ass with those? Or if there was somethin’ you particularly wanted to do, I’m open to suggestions…”  
Fuck yes.  
“I’m alright with that. Take me home Ampora.”

  
There was maybe a second meaning behind that, but what the hell, you don’t care and the possibility of you macking on Ampora has risen considerably since the night started. You pull out your phone as he drags you along again, a sort of bounce in both of your steps as he led you to his place. You owe someone your thanks.

‘I FUCKING CALLED IT. DON’T BE AN ASSHOLE SOLLUX AND YOU NOW OWE ME A BOTTLE OF SOMETHING ACOHOLIC.’

And apparently a bottle of rum.

Oh well, the dork in front of you who keeps glancing back as if to see if you’re still there is enough to make up for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	10. Day 10 - With animal ears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #petstuck   
> Because I had no idea what else to do.

You have never liked animals.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

You don’t like _land_ animals. Aquatic creatures are the absolute shit and you’d gladly pay as much as your wallet allowed (which was quite a lot actually) to own your own aquarium and filling with absolutely everything.

You know Fef would help you out with that, hell she’d pay half if you let her sleep on a water bed with a bunch of cuttlefish swimming around her.

But this thing, this weird ass knee-high grumpy snappy kind of dumb looking thing. This thing you were so not sure of.

It was about knee high, with double tails and the coolest eyes you’d seen on anything.

Earth had broken through with some spacey bullshit about three years ago, and they’d been sending more and more probes and drones and what nots out further and further into space.

And one of them had picked up life forms on a planet about twenty six light years away from the outer reaches of Earth’s solar system, near some nebula or some shit. And so they’d sent people over, to check it out.

And they’d come back with some alien thing and turned it into a fucking _pet._

There’d been a big uproar about it, greenies going on about how it wasn’t very humanitarian or some shit. You just thought it was horrible, taking something and keeping it as a pet, it’s just like the human race to do that.

Only the rich had been buying these “trolls”. These hyper-pets.

You swore to both Fef and yourself that you wouldn’t get one. You wouldn’t put any animal through the apparent torture of being owned by you.

Like you said, you’re not very good with land animals. Fish and seahorses and even hermit grabs you’re absolutely spot on with taking care of. Mammals and most reptiles, heck even birds you're absolutely shit at taking care of.

Generally you take the back way to your house, bypassing all the usual car traffic and plus it meant you didn’t have to drive since you could just walk home instead of driving through the absolute maze of streets.

And it was in one of the back ways that you found the little troll. He, you now know it’s a he, was such a fucking scrawny thing you nearly didn’t see him. All you heard was a weird hissy sound and something attacked your ankles.

You may or may not have shrieked.

Your phone proved to be a substantial light in the practical no light of the winter, and the thing with its claws sunk into your ankle was shivering so badly and snarling it as you. Its dual ears were pressed back against its head and it looked so _small_ and your heart just…

So you picked him up, unhooking his claws from your ankle and wrapping him up in your scarf (trapping its insanely sharp claws) and bundling him up in your coat before hurrying home.

He’d snarled and clawed and squirmed and generally did a lot of annoying movement as you tried to unlock your front door.   
“Will you calm down? I’m tryin’a help you here!”   
But when he’d stopped moving your worry just ramped up two fold.   
You’d hurried inside and moved straight to the cupboard by your bathroom where you kept all your blankets, including the insanely soft mink blanket you’d bought ages ago.  
You yanked it down from the cupboard, disrupting literally everything in the cupboard and hurrying straight to the couch. You unwrapped the troll, detaching his claws and wrapping him up quickly in the blanket. He was so fucking _scrawny_. Someone must’ve abandoned him or something.

Fuck you are so not cut out for taking care of things like this, especially something as high maintenance as a troll.

But he looked so tiny.

The troll woke you up the next morning by biting on your nose, hard.

Motherfucker had insanely sharp teeth. You’d just about thrown him off your lap with a shriek when you woke up.

Except that he was still wrapped up in your mink blanket and you’d fallen off the couch catching him before he fell. He looked so cute, wrapped up like a kitten in those photos you see plastered over the internet.  
“Okay. First rule. Do _not_ bite me to wake me up. That shit’s no fun.”  
He just looked at you, ears pulled back and tiny teeth bared.

You just sighed, shifting to sit back against the couch. “Can you even understand me?”  
He nodded, clutching the edge of the blanket in his tiny hands.   
“Okay. Well at least that’s somethin’. The fuck were you doin’ out in the alleyway?”  
He just shrugged, curling up in the blanket. “Did you just get left there?” A nod and you just slumped.

“A’ight. That’s just fucked up.” Looks like you just adopted a tiny angry troll off the streets. Good job you. “You hungry?”

He nodded so quickly you thought he’d break his neck.

“I have no idea what trolls eat so you’re just gonna have to figure out what kin’a shit you like.” You stood up, cradling the bundle of troll to your chest like a baby.

“You better not fuckin’ eat my fish or I swear to god I’m wrappin’ you up in the most insanely pink shit I can find an’ callin’ up Fef an’ she can come squeal over how cute you are an’ dress you up because you ate the fish she gave me for my birthday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	11. Day 11 - wearing kigurumis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #established relationship #sollux is of mixed lineage. #and eridan is just eridan. #humanstuck

“What the actual fuck are you _wearing_?”

His head snapped up so quickly to look at you, you thought he’d break his neck.

“It’s called a kigurumi an’-.”  
“You’re saying it wrong Eridan.”  
“Don’t care. It’s warm as fuck an’ comfortable as hell an’ it’s called a fuckin’ kigurumi.”

You sighed, placing you laptop bag on the kitchen counter and moving around the couch to see him. You knew what they were, coming from the background you did and your brother Mituna owning one you definitely knew what they were. You just didn’t expect him to. Or to be wearing one.

He did look exceptionally adorable though.

“How did you find it? I didn’t think they sold any of the authentic ones in America.”  
“They don’t. I imported it.”  
“Was that the package you were waiting for?”  
“Yep.”  
“Ah…”  
Your boyfriend was stretched out over the couch, leaving very little room for you to sit down and you had to nudge his legs a bit so you could sit.

“The fuck is it supposed to be?”  
“It’s a seahorse.”  
“A sea-. How on earth did you get a _seahorse_ one?”  
The look on his face answered your question and you groaned, flopping back against the couch and closing your eyes.  
“You custom-ordered a kigurumi from Japan.”  
“Yep.”  
“You’re a fucking dork ED.”

You were maybe a little bit jealous. Growing up, you’d always wanted one even since your dad had told you stories about the costumed performers and how the snugly jumpsuit sort of thing was named.  
Instead ‘Tuna got one and you’d long since grown out of the need for one.

When you open your eyes again, Eridan’s looking a little bit too smug about something and he’s sitting on his hands.

“What did you do.”  
“Y’know Minun and Plulse?”  
“Yeah?” Of course you fucking knew them. They were two of your favourite Pokémon.  
“We-ell…”  
Eridan shifted, lifting his ass off the couch and pulling out another package. He didn’t.  
“You didn’t.”  
“You were tellin’ me how you always wanted one as a kid an’ so I got one made for you…”  
Holy fuck no.

Eridan looked sort of anxious about it though, chewing on his lip and shoving his hands into the pocket on the front of the seahorse.  
“You bought me one?”  
“If you don’t want it you can give it away to charity or somethin’. It’s just that they’re really warm an’ comfy an’ we’re always fightin’ over the blankets an’ shit on the couch an’ I thought that maybe if you had one as well there’d be less a that an’ maybe we’d cuddle a bit more even though I know you don’t like tha’ all too much an’ if you’re just not cuddlin’ me ‘cause you don’t want to that’s totally fine you can keep it anyway it’s sort’a gift? I mean if you want it to b-”  
Eridan Ampora flustered is one of the best things you’ve ever seen or heard to this date.

But he was rambling and you could see him getting more and more wound up as he spoke so you did the next best thing, kissing him quiet.

“Fuck yes I want it. Babe, this is hilarious gimme a sec I want it on.”  
You scrambled off the couch, taking the package with you to the bathroom where you stripped quickly out of you shitty work clothes and scramble into the kigurumi. It _is_ comfortable.

You are so gonna fall asleep in this.

Eridan makes a sort of ‘oof!’ sound when you flop onto him, laying across him with the hood flipped over your head.  
He smiles, you can just see it under the edge of the hood, and wraps his arms around you, hugging you tight.  
“You’re adorable.”  
“ _You’re_ adorable. Thanks though. These really are comfy.”  
“Do you have anythin’ left to do tonight?”  
“Nah…”  
“Do you have any problem with stayin’ like this for the rest a the night then? You like how your boyfriend thinks.

He hugs you tighter, shoving his face against the top of your head and rolling slightly to hit at the back of the couch until it collapsed down flat.

That was probably one of the main reasons you bought this couch, bar the fact that it was comfier than your chair.

And also maybe because you both tended to fall asleep on the couch.

“So this was a good idea?”  
“Yes Eridan, and if you ask again I’m gonna go curl up on the bed and sleep there.”  
He pouts at you, so you grab the hood and pull it down over his face, snickering.

“Love you.”  
“Love you too dork.”  
  



	12. Day 12 - Making out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #blackrom #established relationship

Your kismesis is a fucking idiot.

And also completely inept to blackrom makeouts.

“You useless connivin’ slag-fuckin’ son’a _bitch_.”  
“Hey now ED. Those are harsh words. Didn’t your lusus ever teach you not to swear.”  
The asshole looked so smug.

You’d dragged him along to one of Fef’s parties, forcing him to dress up into at least dress pants and a plain suit and the asshole just _had_ to go and make a fool out of both himself and you.

You hate him.

You _hate_ him.

“I fuckin’ hate you.”  
“That’s nice fishdick. Now, will you kindly fuck off. Your prescence is annoying me.”  
“You’re fuckin’ face is annoyin’ me.”  
“Ooh such original words. I’m impressed. Good job Ampor- mph!”

You, on the other hand, are exceptional at blackrom makeouts.  
It comes with your lineage.

“Eridan wh-”  
“Shut up Sollux.”  
You kissed him roughly, getting your hands in his hair and yanking his head back to attack his jaw and neck with biting kisses. He tried to get you back, one hand going to your hair and fucking up the style and the other hand pressing against your gills through your shirt. You growled, biting at his lips and kissing him proper, probably bruising his lips.

His eyes were wide when you shoved him away, a bit of his own blood coming his split lip and his hair completely tousled. His neck had the markings of incoming hickies and this time you were the smug one.

“That was uncalled for.”  
“Just because you dunno how t’ blackrom properly doesn’t mean I don’t.”  
“I never _said_ that.”  
“I never thaid that.” You mimicked him, smirking as he growled and his horns sparked. Maybe he’ll tousle with you for once, actually spar without his sparkles.

“C’mon lispy. Just admit it, you’ll never be as good a kisser as me.”  
“Shut your fucking trap Eridan.”  
“Ooh so you’re admittin’ I’m right?”  
“No!”  
“Are you sure? Because I am right. You’re a rubbish kisser.”  
“Shut up!”  
He kissed you this time, shoving you back against the wall and pinning you there with his psionics. He snapped at your throat, grazing his uneven teeth over your gills in a way that had your fins pinning back and a harsh growl tearing out of your throat. You grabbed a horn, yanking his head up and kissing him, hard.

You broke his connection enough to shove him back, grabbing his face again with one hand and pulling him into a kiss even as you walked backwards towards the couch. You were biting, snapping at his lips and sucking up dark marks like grotesque flowers on his neck and jaw where he had absolutely no chance of hiding them.

He was yours. And they’d all better fucking understand that or you’ll kill them all.

You somehow ended up on the couch, pining Sollux underneath you without making both of you fall off. Which was fine, you could pin him down easier this way.

Neither of you were aroused, this was all just about kissing, just make outs.

This was to see who was better.

And it was so totally you.

Without a single fucking doubt.

“Fuck FINE! Stop chewing at my neck you useless animal.”  
“Say it. Say iiiit.”  
“No!”  
You bit him again, sucking hard and snickering at him when he yelped and shuddered, shoving your face away.  
“Eridan fuck _off._ ”  
You kissed him instead, proper kissing. Proper black kissing that pushed his head back against the couch cushions without it pushing on his horns too much.

“Say it an’ I’ll fuck off f’ the day.”  
He mumbled something unintelligible, glaring at you.

You just raised an eyebrow, licking your own lips and baring your teeth in a grin.

He sighed, dropping his head back and glaring at the roof.  
“You’re better at blackrom makeouts.”  
Damn right you were.

“But that’s about it. You fucking suck at everything else.”  
“Hey!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I wrote black rom okay? Eh well, thank you for the kudos!


	13. Day 13 - eating ice cream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #established relationship #therapy ice cream is the best. if you like ice cream of course.

Eridan was never easy to deal with in a mood.

And half the time, you were too caught up in your own work and coding to even notice his mood drops.

You stumbled out of your study, one hand holding your head because _wow_ that was a fucking headache. Eridan wasn’t sitting on the couch like you thought he might, he wasn’t in the kitchen like he probably could have been, and you couldn’t hear the shower running.

Where did he go then? You weren’t in there very long, there was an empty mug by your computer so it can’t have been that long. Eridan knew you had a coding thing, he’d brought you dinner the night before. Or was it the night before that? Either way, where was Eridan?

“ED? Where’d you go?”

You checked your phone and the fridge to see if he’d gone out and left you a note. He hadn’t.

“Eridan?”

You opened the door to your shared bedroom almost cautiously, peering around the edge of the door.

He was lying with his back to you, not even under the covers and still in his day clothes. He didn’t look like he had earphones in or that he was really sleeping.

“Babe?”

He didn’t move, and you wondered if he really was asleep. You crept closer, leaning over him slightly and checking his face. His eyes were open, he was breathing, but he didn’t acknowledge you.

“Hey. ED? Eridan?” He blinked, but that was it. He didn’t move, and you crawled up on the bed, pushing him slightly to lay on his back. “Babe?”

Eridan acknowledgeD you this time, blinking and glancing up at your face, eyebrows furrowing slightly.  
“Hey… you okay?”  
Eridan nodded, gaze sliding past your face again before he blinked back to look at you.

He didn’t look too good, plus he wasn’t talking your ear off for taking better care of yourself while coding. You bit your own lip, still kneeling over him. “… How long was I coding for?”  
“Few days. I brought you coffee when I remembered, an’ some food at one point.”  
“Thanks for that. How long was a few days?” He tended to generalize the amount of time you spent coding, apparently to make you feel better or something.  
“I think four? I dunno. I wasn’t really keepin’ track.”  
A lie. You knew he would, and probably always will. But there was something wrong now and fuck what the hell did you do?

You leaned down, letting your forehead press against his with a gentle bonk. “Eridan. Eeeeridan.”  
“What.”  
You blanched slightly, faltering. He wasn’t reacting normally. He looked despondent, ill, and just… wrong.  
And it hit you over the head like a fucking stack of bricks.  
“Oh Eridan… Why didn’t you bug me earlier.”  
“You were busy…”  
“Eridan…”  
He shoved you away, rolling and curling up on his side again.

Like you said, Eridan in a mood was horrible to deal with. Contrary to popular belief, he didn’t want any attention. He just wanted to stay away from absolutely everyone and everything, just curl up away from the world.

And it was _hard_ to get him out of. Hard and _tiring._ He didn’t want to do anything with you, he just would get snappish and angry and tell you to piss off.

The first time it had happened was nearly a month and a half into your relationship (Eridan didn’t get downswings as often as you did, thank everything.)

You’d nearly broken up with him because of it. You just didn’t understand, and you are so fucking glad you stuck through with it, with him.

But you still, even after the several he’d had throughout the nearly two years you’d been together, did not know how to deal with them properly. They happened so little that you never really got a chance to properly figure out how to help him.

His shoulders were hunched and you sighed softly, shifting to lay down on top of him, despite how uncomfortable it was for you. You wrapped your arms around him, burying your face against his neck and hugging him close.  
“… Do you want some ice cream? There should still be some in the freezer that I was saving up because I was gonna surprise you with a movie marathon this weekend. It’s why I was getting all that work done.”  
You felt like it was better to be completely and utterly truthful with him during these periods, even if it made him cry.

You think he might be crying now.

“Eridan? Do you want to go watch movies and eat ice cream with me?”  
He nodded, face pressed against the stupidly soft comforter.  
“Okay. C’mon then, go have a hot shower and I’ll get everything set up.”  
“You stink more'n me Sol…”  
You just grinned and hugged him tightly, squirming until he scoffed and shoved at you to get you off him. He looked more okay now, he wasn’t quite smiling, but at least he didn’t look dead.  
“Go shower nerd.”  
He sighed, sitting up with his legs over the edge of the bed. Even then he took another minute or so to actually stand up. You didn’t say anything while he did so, just pressing a kiss to his cheek and walking with him out of the room.

You headed straight for the freezer, checking that the two tubs of ben and jerry’s was securely tucked away behind the peas before heading to the cupboard beside the TV that stored all of your truly impressive amount of movies.

You pulled down the Philosophers stone, and the next two in the series as well, resigning yourself to the fate of watching Harry Potter for the next few hours.  
You didn’t mind all that much, they were tolerable, but Eridan loved them, so you watched them with him even if you didn’t necessarily want to. He watched your Alien movies even though you know for a fact he hates them.  
(You’re pretty sure he does it because you cuddle him a lot when you two watch movies.)

You had the movie in and ready, and the ice cream slowly starting to melt on the coffee table in front of you. You even got the super soft blanket from the bed and was all sitting and ready in prime cuddle positions for when Eridan came back out.

His hair was still damp as he sat down beside you, curling up against your side and reaching for his tub of ice cream.

“Love you babe.”  
You felt his small smile against your lips when you kissed him, saw the gratitude in his eyes and you knew. You’ve known for nearly two years now.

He loves you just as much as you love him, maybe even more.

And sometimes all it takes to remind you to remind him of that is a tub of ice cream and a movie.


	14. Day 14 - Genderbent (or Trans characters)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #ftm!Sollux #ftm!Eridan  
> I actually went with transgender characters with this one, because I'm not really comfortable writing genderbent.  
> If I got anything wrong please tell me!

You _hated_ how you looked.

You’d been on forums, been on the internet, to a specialist, fuck even to a meeting in the middle of town.

You just hated it.

You’d even, after a very nerve-wracking conversation with your father, looked online for the things you’d need to fix yourself into what felt better.

And then you met him.

He was like you, he had problems with his image like you did.

And he _understood_ you.

He made you feel loved.

Made you feel whole.

And you helped him too. Your family was better off than his, they’d helped you to pay for your surgery. Sollux didn’t. He still used a binder.

The good one that you’d immediately bought him when you found out you two were the same. The bandages he were using gave him horrible pains in his back and hurt his chest.

Sollux was the better looking out of the two of you, he got the hair and the clothes and everything down pat.

You were still struggling, because some of the clothes you wore before you realised what felt wrong with you were very pretty, and you like still wearing them.

But then you get called a fake.

A wannabe.

You got called insults that you didn’t think were possible.

And it _hurt._ It still does.

So what if sometimes you liked wearing dresses and skirts? You still felt more connected with being male than female. You only wore female clothes when you were feeling completely down and needed something to make you feel pretty. You still identified as male most of the time. You weren’t a fake. You were…. You just….

“Eridan?”

No No _No_ don’t come in here. “Give me a second.”  
“Eridan are you okay?”  
“Yeah!”  
“No you’re not.”

He pushed open the door before you could tell him not to, _your_ hoodie wrapped around his thin frame.

You twisted to face the other way before he could see your face, closing the browser window.  
“Eridan…”  
“I’m fine.”  
“Eridan what did you read.”  
“Nothin’! I told you I’m fine.”  
“Eridan you’re crying.”  
“No I’m not.”  
You were crying. Past tense, were. Not was, or am. Were. There shouldn’t be any trace of tears on your face anymore.  
“Eridan…”  
“Go _away_ Sol.”  
“Eridan c’mere.”  
“No don’t touch me!” You shoved away from him, standing up from your chair and taking a few steps away from him. You were maybe going to cry again.

You hate what they call you.

But that’s probably the consequences for posting photos of yourself up on Tumblr in both a dress and your normal wear. And for identifying as male, with male pronouns and wearing _that_ , you should’ve known it would end badly. But sometimes you need to see yourself as pretty, as something desirable, because dressing like a guy didn’t always do that for you.

Sollux understood, why didn’t other people?

“Eridan what did you read?”  
“Doesn’t matter.”  
“Eridan-.”  
“Fuck _off_ Sollux. I’m not in the mood.”  
He wrapped his arms around you instead, face pressed against the back of your neck.  
“You know I love you right.”  
Your heart hurt. This wasn’t something he needed to get involved in, he didn’t need to deal with your shitty confusion over which gender you actually were. This was your shit, and he already had to deal with your emotional outburst and your prissy-ness and your ability to be the most diva-esque male on the planet.

“Eeeeeeridan. ED. Lugless. Fishlips. Dork. Nerd. Dickhead pay attention to me.”  
“God you’d think you’d be the diva but no everyone pins it on me.”  
“That’s because you are babe. The diva-est diva to every have diva-ed.”  
“You’re a prick.”  
“Love you too.”  
His statement made you stop, he did love you. Even if you sometimes wore feminine clothes or wanted to look like your original gender.

Hell, one time you’d even gotten him to dress up with you.

He was fucking attractive in both genders the asshole.

“I’m confused.”  
“About?”  
“Me. What I am like…. Like gender wise. I want to be a guy most of the time, but then I want to be a girl. I feel better as a guy. I just…” You let your head thunk back against his shoulder, staring up at your ceiling. Fuck gender roles honestly.

“So you wanna go be a dragon? Will that be better for you?”  
“Nah. Seahorses are better.”  
He snorts, and you can feel him rolling his eyes at you.  
“Shut up you asshole.” You turned around to hug him properly, face buried against his neck.

“You’re fine either way Eridan. Trust me on this one.”  
“… Promise?”  
“Promise.”


	15. Day 15 - in a different clothing style

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #pirate!amporas   
> though its not really that obvious.

You’ve always lived on ships.

Commercials, dinghy’s, smugglers, tiny skiffs that ferried people between islands, ferries. You’ve been on a lot. Always lived on them really, wherever your dad went, you went.

But you’ve never really been on a ship like this one.

You and your father had fallen on hard times again, got kicked off the last rust bucket because they caught you stealing gold from the stockpile. Not a lot but apparently enough.

You’re just lucky they didn’t kill you, or your father.

The streets were never kind. You could make a little money doing card tricks and pickpocketing, but people notice eventually and then you have to run again.

You’re very good at running. But your father is tired, and he’s injured from where the high class lady who owned ‘ _The Empress’_ had beat him with her fancy prissy woman cane. Bitch.

The docks proved fruitless, there were no ships that would take either of you for work, and none of the taverns had any room for a street urchin and an old beggar. And it was getting _worse_. Your dad had some kind of cold or illness and he was getting weaker and weaker and you were _afraid._

You found them then.

Or they found you.

A kid around your age, peering down at you through thick glasses and calling out to someone. It had been raining. You were cold, and your father was worse. The kid had taken your hand and a taller man and stooped to pick up your father. You heard faint talking from them both before you promptly passed out.

You didn’t wake up again until three days later. And by then, the ship was already at sea.

She was a beauty if you were quite honest, double masted, full sails, deep hull and the nicest figured head you’d seen in a long long time.

There were only a few crew out on deck by the time you’d stumbled from the dark of the cabins, and your father was nowhere to be found. One of the crew members, the one swabbing the deck, glanced at you and looked up, raising a hand to his lips and hollering up the mast. He went right back to work and you were left standing there wondering what the fuck was going on. These weren’t even your clothes.

A boy appeared from the side, swinging himself to land properly in front of you and inspecting your face.   
“Ah good. Yer finally awake. Y’ Da’ll be please ‘bout that. C’mon, I’ll take ya to him.”  
“Who are you?” He looked to be your age, and roughly your height. The boy looked well fed and well dressed, and you gather that it must be his clothes you are wearing.   
“Eridan Ampora, son’a the cap’n.”  
“…” Everything was so confusing. One minute it was raining and it was so cold, and now the sun’s out, there’s a kid your age leading you through a mess of halls and _where the fuck is your dad?_

_  
_

Eridan knocked on an ornate door, waiting a second before pushing it open. You barely got two steps inside before taking a run and lunging at your father, arms tight around him.

His arm was in a sling but he hugged you all the same, looking better than he had in weeks. You heard the quiet words from behind you, but you didn’t care. Screw everything for at least ten minutes.

You dad turned you slightly once he’d finished hugging you, getting you to look at the captain.

Who was one scary man holy hell you hadn’t seen scars like that since you’d hid in a brawling bar from a bunch of street police.

Eridan stood beside him, casually leaning back against a chart table, so you could only guess that that must be the captain.

Your father spoke softly to you, explaining with quick words what you’d missed while you were unconscious.

And at that moment, almost predictably, your stomach rumbled loudly, embarrassing you instantly.

They laughed, even your father, and you just scowled, hitting his good arm and crossing your own.   
“Eri take ‘im t’ get fed. Kid’s skinnier than a rail.”  
“Aye. C’mon.” He beckoned to you as he walked to the door, and you just looked at your father.  
“Go on. We’re safe here Sollux. Old friends of mine who owed me a favour.”  
“Only ‘cause you’re a fuckin’ dunce.”  
You just nodded, your first few steps hesitant before Eridan grew impatient and grabbed your wrist, tugging you out of the room.  
He didn’t let go until you both were perched on an empty counter while the rather thickset cook grumbled over a pot. Eridan handed you pointed you to a barrel full of fruit, and you didn’t need any other instruction. You took several, slipping two up under the shirt before sitting down. Eridan just sighed at you and rolled his eyes.  
The glare you sent him should’ve burnt his eyes out.   
“Did ya not hear anythin’? You’re safe here. Da’s not gonna drop you at the next port as soon as we dock, I’ve got a feelin’ he’s been meanin’ t’ catch up with your dad.”  
“So?”  
“So you don’t have to hoard food. You can eat what you like here.”  
He looked so hopeful. You had no idea why, and as far as you’d seen there were no other kids on this ship. Was it because he might finally have someone to talk to?

It became more obvious as you let the boy talk. Eridan chatted about everything, making snarky remarks with the cook and getting him to tell you both stories that had you laughing loudly.

You’ve been on a lot of ships but this one…. This one is one you’ve never seen the likes of before. Regardless of its reputation, the crew made it all worth the while you stayed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if this one wasn't as good as the others, I'm a bit out of sorts at the moment and it was the best I could do and still be on time.


	16. Day 16 - During their morning routine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #established relationship #tw:anxiety attack #eridan has a form of OCD

You always woke up first.

Ever since you and Sollux started living together, you would always be the first one up. First one up, first one dressed, first one to put the kettle on, first one in the shower, first one out the door.

All because Sollux was too fucking lazy to get his ass out of bed until either his class or his shift started.

You generally had morning shifts, but even on weekends you were the first one up. You just didn’t like lying in bed, you need to be doing something, anything to get your mind of whatever it tends to think about once you stop moving.

Feferi called you a whirlwind, a willy willy over the water that drove a ships navigation points haywire and fucked with everything.

Even Karkat couldn’t handle you waking up at six every morning and heading out for a jog when you’d bunked with him for a few months. Drove him insane apparently, the way you’d be just coming back when he woke up or be already busy in the kitchen.

You don’t even think Sollux knows you go out.

And you do.

Wake up at six, get changed, go for a run, come home, have a shower, start on breakfast, wake Sollux up if he’s drowsy or just leave him before heading to your morning class.

That’s how it goes, every day of the week. Its methodical, a routine much like the ones you’ve seen Sollux do when he comes home pissed off from work or the idiots in his class.

It keeps your mind from spiralling out of control and over thinking absolute everything.

Which is what it’s doing now because you _stupidly_ allowed yourself to somehow end up as the little spoon last night and now you were trapped under Sollux’s arm and it was six thirty. Six thirty and you should’ve been out running already. Or at the pool. Not trapped here and oh fuck it’s going to screw up your entire day.  
“ED?”  
There was a thing due yesterday wasn’t there? Oh fuck did you hand it in? You did didn’t you? You must’ve handed it in, you can’t not hand things in.  
“Eridan?”  
What if there’s something on today? What is today? Saturday? No. Yes? What is today? Was something happening today.  
You’re fine. Nothing happens on Saturdays. Except your morning routine. Six forty five. You would’ve been past the park by now and maybe along the shoreline? Or maybe stopping at the café?

You hadn’t notice that your breathing had sped up, or your heartrate had done the same until Sollux had rolled you over and was kneeling above you. It was too early for him to be awake.

Everything is falling to shit, your routine is screwed up, Sollux was awake earlier than usual, something was _wrong_. Why wasn’t everything going as it should.  
“Eridan. Eridan listen to me. Calm down babe, you’re fine, you’re here with me. Its three to seven on Saturday morning sixteenth of March. You’re fine babe. You’re _okay._ ”

School was making you stressed, something must have gone wrong earlier in the week.

Was it you that was the problem? Your routine, you mustn’t’ve stuck to your routine. Why didn’t you stick to your _fucking routine._ It’s your fault.

“Eridan. Eridan breathe. Babe listen to me. You need to breathe, breathe with me now, ready? One, two, three. Eridan breathe.”  
Sollux was hugging you, pulling you to sit upright and had his arms around you and his chest pressed to yours and he was telling you to breathe. You were breathing, weren’t you? You had to be breathing, you weren’t going light headed.  
There’s a hand in your hair, carefully. Sollux. You had to stay with your routine. You _need_ control. Can’t lose control. You need control. You need…. You need your routine. You can’t lose your routine. Routine keeps you okay, in control, routine makes you better.  
“ _Sollux.”_  
“Eridan breathe with me. You are okay. You are _okay._ Tell me.”  
“I am… Am I okay?”  
“Yes. You’re okay, you’re with me here. It’s Saturday, you just had a bit of a lie in, that’s all. Just an extra hour of sleep. Of lazing with me.”  
“I can’t… I can’t fuck Sol I _can’t_.”  
“Yes you can. Just this once you can. I just wanted you to stay with me just this once. It’s raining outside anyway, and it’s getting colder and I didn’t want you getting sick. You’re not breaking your routine.”  
“I’m… I’m not?”  
“No babe. You are _okay_ Eridan”  
You slumped against him, feeling the rise and fall of his chest and clutching him close. You were okay. Sollux said you were okay. Sollux was always right. Even if you hated it. He as blunt and _right_. You were _okay._ You had to be okay. It was just a little bit of deviation in your routine.

“Breathe Eridan. Breathe.”  
You shuddered, pressing your face against your shoulder.

It was raining outside, you could hear it. That was it. That was the deviation from your routine. It was raining hard and you’d decided not to go for a run. You decided to stay in bed. You are okay.

“Better?” You just nodded, still clutching tight to him. Sollux sighed and rubbed at your back, kissing your temple and holding on to you just tight enough to feel safe but not enough to be constricting.

“You’ve been stressing yourself out again haven’t you.” You kept your mouth shut.

He rolled you both so that you were cradled to his chest and you both were on your sides. “Eridan you dunce.”  
“Shut up Sol.”  
“You okay now?”  
“Yeah. Thanks.”  
“Don’t worry about it. Just make me something delicious for breakfast and then come back to bed. I solidly plan on doing absolutely nothing today and lazing around with you all day.”  
You tucked your face against his shoulder after you glanced at the time. You could allow ten minute cuddles before you left to go shower and make breakfast. And it was Saturday, you didn’t usually do anything on Saturdays.  
“Okay.”  
“Good. Now go shower.”  
“Love you Sol.”  
“Love you too. I want French Toast for breakfast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically it's Monday....  
> Oh well. Saturdays are better for sleeping in than Mondays are.  
> Thanks for reading!


	17. Day 17 - Spooning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #established relationship #quadrant confusion

“One, two three!”  
“Fuck.”  
“Oh yeah. Fucking get in the pile Ampora.”  
“Again. You cheated.”  
“I didn’t cheat you idiot. I won fair and square.”  
You kismaterail was an idiot. And a horrible loser.

Right now he was angrily pouting at you from his side of the couch, arms crossed and fins wiggling slightly.  
“Sol-”  
“ED.” You mimic his tone, smirking as he just glares at you.

You’d played a game of rock paper scissors to figure out who was going to be the big spoon. And you won. Without actually cheating. And now he’s pouting because you _know_ he doesn’t like being the little spoon. You don’t really like being the little spoon either, you prefer to be the hugger not the hugged.

And yeah maybe you act the same way he is now when you lose. But at least you don’t ask for another round.

“Get in the pile ED before I call KK.”  
“He’ll be more pissed at you than he will be at me if you wake him up again over somethin’ like this.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“… yes.”  
“Just get in the fucking pile Eridan.”  
“I don’t want to be the little spoon.”  
“Eridan I swear…”  
He just crossed his arms and glared at you, shoulders hunched slightly in the way you’ve learned means you either make him do the thing or you’re in for a long day of arguing over the thing.

You make him do the thing, because there’s only so many times you can take arguing with Eridan in one night.

Picking him up with your psionics, despite his suddenly loud protests, you carry him over with you to the pile you’d both made.

It was, if you were completely honest, shitty as fuck. If you rolled one way you’d end up with a plug of an electrical cord digging into your side or maybe a wand. But after a lot of debate and uncomfortable rolling around, you’d contributed some soft fleeces you’d normally use for padding around your computers and Eridan had thrown in several old capes and a few blankets. It offset the uncomfortableness of the wands and plugs a lot, so you guess its alright.

You drop Eridan down, flopping down next to him before he can say anything else and wrapping your arms around him. It’s a good thing he’s not taller than you, or this would be highly uncomfortable.

You can feel him tense up, elbows moving slightly and you know he’s going to jab you and whine again unless you do something so you just sigh, relax and kiss his earfin and hug him close.

As usual, it stops him short, fins flaring slightly and colouring as he just shuts up and stills. You don’t bother hiding your grin, pressing it against the back of his neck and squeezing him slightly.

“I’m the big spoon next time.”  
You snort, “sure if you win.”  
“I will win. You just….”  
“I what ED?”   
“You just cheated.”  
You can feel him slump, your grin growing wider because you know that he knows he’s just being wrigglerish about the whole thing. You don’t care, it’s amusing.  
“Maybe I’ll let you win next time huh? How does that sound?”  
He grumbles something and you hush him, cuddling closer and kissing his fin again.

Eridan always falls asleep much faster when he’s the little spoon, his breathing slowing down and his fins going lax against his head. You know he’d swear on anything that it’s not true. But you know it is, he finds comfort in being cradled like his now, falling asleep like this.

And as much as you hate to admit it, you do too. More often when you’ve got a migraine but even without out you’ve found yourself falling asleep easier when he’s closer.

It’s weird, and sometimes it annoys you worse than an irritable code.

You even dared as Karkat and Feferi about it. Feferi just smiled and ruffled your hair, Karkat just got this look in his eye that made you storm off because he’s so fucking _annoying_ when he does that.

Eridan mumbles something softly, and you realise you’d tightened your grip around him while you were deep in thought. You relaxed, cuddling him closer and presing your face against his hair.

One of his hands curls in yours, fingers gripping lightly to yours and you just smile, closing your own eyes and letting yourself fall asleep.

He might complain until he’s purple in the face but Eridan is really good at being the little spoon, probably a lot more than he or you are willing to admit.

And that’s okay.

It works for the both of you.


	18. Day 18 - Doing something together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #established relationship #humanstuck

“Eridan…”  
“Sol come on, just trust me.”  
“ _Eridan_ this is a really bad idea why the hell did I let you talk me into this.”  
“Because I just wanted to do somethin’ with you. We’re both so busy with our studies an’ work an’ shit an’ I just…” You sighed, shoulders slumping only slightly. “I wanted to do this. If you don’t want to we can go home an’ watch movie or somethin’.” You know you’re not being very fair about this, but you don’t care. You were both stressed more than usual, you with your exams and Sollux with his work and course and so fuck it if you wanted to spend some time with your boyfriend

Who was putting his spindly fingers on your cheeks and trying to make you smile. “Fine. But if you laugh when I fall over we’re leaving.”  
You can’t help the little excited jump you did, wrapping your arms around him and hugging him tightly. “I won’t laugh. Promise. An’ I won’t let you fall over too much either.”  
He just sighed and shoved you away gently, grumbling under his breath.

You just grabbed his hand and tugged him with you into the ice rink. You paid for the both of you, tugging him around the corner to get some skates. You were excited, you hadn’t been ice skating for a long time, not since you took Fef for her birthday a few years ago. You loved ice skating.

It was fun. Even if you fell over sometimes and you got cold faster than you would like because you never seem to wear warm enough clothing. Oh well, that’s why the canteen was heated, and sold hot foods.

You’re giddy, toeing off your shoes and pulling the loan skates on. You help Sollux with his once you’re done, pulling him to his feet and starting for the rink.

Sollux is hesitant, uncomfortable, you can feel it in the way he holds your hand. You turn and kiss his cheek, sliding out smoothly onto the rink and twisting yourself to the side and holding your hands out to him. Sollux looks so awkward, like a gangly fawn or something adorable and you just have to kiss his already pink cheeks and squeeze his hands.   
“I won’t let you fall. Promise Sol.”   
“I’m just gonna hold onto the side as well, just in case.” He looks so worried that you just smile, squeeze his hand again and coax him to skate. He doesn’t know how to move his feet, it takes a bit but by the time you’ve made nearly three rounds of the rink he’s skating smoother, sliding his feet in the pattern you learnt when you were just a kid.

He grins shakily at you, squeezing your fingers and you smile back, leaning in for a kiss.   
“You wanna try away from the edge?” You can’t help the eager tone to your voice, kissing his nose and watching him carefully. He nodded, albeit after some hesitation and you spun quickly, skating backwards and holding out your hands for his. He looked horrified that you were going backwards.   
“Eridan what the _hell_ are you doing? Go forwards you idiot! You’re gonna fall over!”  
You just laughed, oh darling didn’t know that you skated better than him. “Love I’m fine. I’ve been skating on and off since I was like, six okay. I got this.”  
“But if you fall over-”  
“If I fall over you get all rights to laughing at me.” He looks better, fore at ease with on the ice and you kiss his nose again, grinning like an idiot as you slowly skate him a little bit further away from the edge. His grip tightens on your fingers and you just slow down, pulling your feet together in a T stop and waiting until he relaxes. You wait for him to nod, and you continue.

It took him a while, a few more rounds before you were skating side by side. Your hands and the tip of your nose is cold, but you’re happy. You’re actually outside with your shut in of a boyfriend.

You’re just as much of shut in but who cares. You’re happy, it’s nice, and Sollux looks so cute all wrapped up in a hoodie and the beanie you’d bought him last winter.

He’s so fucking adorable sometimes it makes your heart hurt. He’s so cute when he’s not being a surly little shit and coding his ass off.

You kiss him, ignoring the outraged muttering of a mother to your left and just kiss him by the side of the ice rink. He looks flustered when you pull back and you grin at him, cheeks bright.

And then your feet slip out from under you and you land flat on your ass.

The pain is worth it just to hear Sollux laugh loud and free.   



	19. Day 19 - In formal wear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #established relationship #kismesisitude

“So how long do we have to be there for?”

Eridan shrugged, turning slightly to adjust the lapel of your shirt. You were both dressed up per Feferi’s request, you in something Eridan and Kanaya’d picked out. The clothing made you uncomfortable, way too formal to you. But appropriate for the gathering you’d both been made to attend.

The dark violet vest Eridan wore made you just want to rip it off and screw him over the back of the couch he looked so unfairly _good._

His hair was still and he had piercings in his fins, something you’d never seen before. You’d only seen his rings, and the one necklace he always wore before Feferi broke it off with him.

“Okay so why am I here? I get why she wanted you along, you’re a fucking highblood but-”  
“She didn’t want me along.” Eridan interrupted you, staring fixedly ahead at the door that still hadn’t opened. “I’m only here because I refuse to leave you alone with them.”

That caused you to raise your eyebrows in surprise, adjusting the rolled up sleeves of your shirt. You were plainly dressed, white shirt, black pants, black and white shoes that Kanaya had let you wear. The only show of your blood colour was your eyes, a clear view that you were a psionic and therefore not anything higher than olive.

The ring on your finger that Eridan had made you wear felt heavy, weird. You didn’t understand why he was making you wear one of his rings; this highblood shit went right over your head.

“Fuck this, come on.” Eridan opened the door and walked in, you following behind him with a fixed bored expression on your face.

You spotted Feferi instantly. There was honestly no missing her.

Just like there was no missing the insanely large amounts of highbloods in this room.

The lowest was a fucking _purple_ for Christs sakes what the _fuck were you doing here._

“Eridan…”  
“Don’t worry. If they touch you I’ll rip their intestines out of their waist chute and hogtie them to the fuckin’ ceiling.” The way he says it, cold, calm, this was the Eridan no one really saw. This was the Ampora blood that killed lusii without a second thought and had fought for fun on more than one occasion. He grasped your upper arm, dragging you along to Feferi and didn’t open his mouth again.

You saw some subjugglators turn to see who was pushing them out of the way and freeze, teeth bearing almost instantly. Eridan just kept walking, ignoring them all as he stood by Feferi. You just crossed your arms, looking as bored as you could and willing your heart to slow down.

Feferi hugged you and the closest highbloods backed off a little, faces so obviously confused it was almost hilarious.  
“You only have to be here for half an hour Sollux. Then you can go home so it’s not that long. It just gets most of these assholes off my back. No idea why you brought him along.”  
You ignored the look she sent Eridan, those two really need to sort out their spat, you don’t even know what it was about. “What’re these assholes getting on your back about?”  
“They’ve heard that I’ve got quadrants free and want to fill the position of any. If only to be protected from the enemies they might have.”  
“And I’m here why?”  
“I told them I’m red with you.”  
“What?”

You just looked at her. You weren’t red with her, and at one point you might’ve wanted to but not any longer. One highblood is enough in your quadrants, you don’t particularly want another one.

“Yeah I told them I’m red with you.”  
“Are you outta your fuckin’ _mind?!”_ This time it’s Eridan who interrupts, and he looks absolutely furious. His fins are pinned back against his head, and he makes you want to spark and get the hell away from him. The rest of the obscenely terrifying amount of Highbloods turned to face you three, and you glanced at them, feeling the need to _get the fuck out of here._ You stepped closer to both your seadweller friends, keeping an eye on the surrounding shitlings.  
Eridan was speaking in scary dark tones in a language you had never fucking heard before, and Feferi just looked insulted, and you watched as her expression changed to uncertain to what you could almost call horrified. Her expression instantly schooled back into distaste and she started hissing back at Eridan.

She switched back to the common tongue after a second or two.  
“Leave. You have no reason to be here anymore.”  
Eridan just snarled at her and twisted on his heel, stalking out of the room with barely a glance back at you. You looked at Feferi, raising an eyebrow, she just flipped her hand in a dismissive manor so you gladly took that as your leave. You didn’t want to spend another fucking second in this brimming pothole of angry.

Eridan was powering up the vehicle you both arrived in, and you jumped into the seat next to him before he could drive off. He barely glanced at you, gripping the controls so hard his knuckles were white and speeding off.

“I don’t have to go to any more do I?” You voice is quiet, and you so do _not_ want to piss him off right now.  
“No. An’ Peixes isn’t gonna be invitin’ you to anymore either if I’ve got any fuckin’ say.”  
You realised that he wasn’t driving back in the way of the communal hivestem you lived in. he was heading towards the cliffs and the way towards… his hive?  
“You’re stayin’ with me a few days. I don’t trust any’a those fuckin’ purples not t’ take a dig at ya soon as she’s closed it off. What the absolute _fuck_ was she thinkin’!”  
“She wasn’t?”  
“No she fuckin’ wasn’t!”

You just sigh softly and settle back into the seat while you head to the docks.  
“Just make sure I have access to your shitty husktop and that I don’t ever have to go to a social gathering ever again and we’ll be perfectly fucking fine.”  
Eridan grins slightly, teeth bared menacingly.  
“Also, I’m never wearing anything like this ever again.”  
“Oh come on. You look at least halfway attractive with this on.”  
“Go fuck yourself Ampora.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments, kudos, etc :)


	20. Day 20 - Dancing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck 
> 
> There aren't really any tags for this?

You weren’t very good at dancing.

Well, you weren’t very good at dancing four and a half weeks ago when you started this freaking class, you like to think you’re pretty okay at this dancing crap. You had the coordination, and the timing and you knew the steps you just _couldn’t do it._

And it drove you damn right _insane._ You’d asked the class instructor if you could stay behind after a lessons to practice the steps and stuff by yourself after everyone else had left. It was alright with her, her office was only down the end of the hall anyway.

And so you did.

The longest you spent in that room after the hour class was nearly two hours. Two hours going over the steps and patterns and movements and timing and _you still can’t fucking do it right!_

You kicked at the floor, running a hand through your hair in frustration. Why can’t you get it right? This _sucks_ why did you take this class.

Oh yeah, because you needed another fucking extra for the course you were taking at uni.

One, two, three, step, four, step step, five-.

You ran your hands through your hair again, tugging angrily. You _hate_ it when you can’t get something right. It annoys you to no end and you end up thinking more and more on it and getting more and more frustrated and you forget everything else in lieu of focusing on the thing.

And this thing was pissing the absolute fuck out of you.

“You look like you’re having fun…”

You whip around, grabbing onto the bar by the mirror as you slip on the floor and nearly end up on your ass. The guy in the doorway snickers at you and you glare at him, righting yourself and glaring at him in a clear and concise message of ‘ _fuck off.’_

“Okay wow chill with the lazering my eyeballs out thanks.”  
“What the fuck do you want?”  
“Dude you are literally the quietest guy in the entire class how do you have such an angry mouth jeez.” You just crossed your arms and continued to glare at him. He was in your dance class, you’d been made to dance with him a few times and he was a pretty good dancer. Never said anything when you cursed under your breath because you got the timing wrong or the steps. He always looked like he didn’t really want to be there, and he didn’t speak to anyone much. And you were sort of surprised to find him here now. It was well past the end of class, what was he doing here?  
“What do you want?”  
“Just thought I’d come by see if you were still in here.”  
“Well I am still here so can you go away now?” You don’t really want nameless guy who spoke to you occasionally during your dance class to see how you can’t get this one freaking dance right. It was bad enough you did it in class, this was the time when you could practice without being judged by people who were obviously better than you and you _knew_ the teacher laughed at you a few times too.

“Nah. I was thinking I could help you a bit.”  
“… What?”  
“Well you don’t seem to be getting the dance right?”  
You bristled slightly, outraged that you’d made it that obvious.  
“So let me help you. What part did she give you?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Did she teach you the dude’s dance or the chick’s dance? Not that there’s that much difference but…”  
“Um? I didn’t know there were two parts. It’s a unisex dance isn’t it.”  
“Well yeah but you’ve got the leading partner and the following partner. What were you given?” You just stare at him. You didn’t even know there was a difference.

He sighs and steps into the room, closing the door behind him and toeing off his shoes. “C’mere.”  
He held his right hand out to you, and you took a few minutes before stepping close to him and taking his head. The first few steps were fine, you were good, in time with him and the rhythm was there even without the music.

And then you fucked it up.

You stepped before him, a half unconscious movement that sent you both tumbling towards the floor. Fuck.

You landed on top of him, his arms around you and the both of you sprawled on the floor.

He started laughing first, small shakes in his arms before he just loosened his arms and let his head drop back against the floor, eyes closed and laughing. He had a nice laugh.

Which was highly infectious, you rolled off him once you realised that it was slightly awkward, lying beside him and snickering quietly.

“Yeah. You’re a leading partner.”  
“Didn’t know there was a difference but okay. Is it much different?”  
“Nah, just the leading part y’know, _leads_. Moves first and shit. Try again?”  
“After I just made you fall over?”  
“Hey you could just take it that I really fell for you.”

That made you stop, and judging by the sudden blush on his face he didn’t mean for it to come out like that.  
“I uh… I didn’t mean it like that okay sometimes I just say things and it comes out wrong um okay so that wasn’t intentional I was just trying to pun I’m just going to shut up now.” Aw he’s fucking adorable when he’s flustered.

Wait what?

You didn’t even know his name.

You were both blushing bright red, and you just sat on the floor looking at each other.

“Um…”  
“Eridan. My name’s Eridan…” He was adorable, so you thought that actual first name introduction is important.

“Sollux. Nice to finally know your name.”

He’s got a fucking lisp. Its barely there, and you wonder if he went through years of speech therapy too.

“Would you be totally opposed to coffee later? If you’re not doin’ anythin’ an’ you don’t particularly mind spendin’ a bit more time around me than the actual lesson…”  
He smiled slightly, standing up and holding his hand out to you. You let him pull you up with a grin.  
“I don’t think I’ll mind. So, shall we try again?”

You matched his grin with one of your own and extended your right hand to him.

Turns out you’re better as a leading partner than a following partner.


	21. Day 21 - Cooking/Baking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #established relationships

You are completely incompetent at cooking any sort of meal that wasn't microwaveable, instant noodles or mac and cheese.

You boyfriend on the other hand, could make even cheese toasties the best thing on the planet.

Which was absolutely amazing when you felt like having a nice meal but didn't particularly feel like going out. Both you and Eridan don't really like socialising very much, you because it made you anxious, him because people piss him off.

So staying at home worked well for you both.

But it was Eridan's birthday and dammit it if you wanted to make him a fucking cake. It shouldn't be this fucking hard what the hell. It was a box mix cake, all the instructions were right there why can't you make the damn thing!

The mixture hadn't turned out right in the first place, and oh fuck the oven was smoking what the fuck do you do help. You turn everything off, slamming switches and twisting the dials before wrenching the oven door open and back-pedalling as the thick smoke billowed out. The fire alarm went off instantly and you hurried to stand on the counter to shut the damn thing up before it made you any worse.

The top of the cake was burnt. The top of the cake was fucking burnt.

You felt like crying.

This wasn't fair. It was only supposed to be a cake, just a cake, something simple you could do for your insanely studious boyfriend who forgot it was his birthday in lieu of exams.

And you fucked it up.

You just put the cake tin on the rack before you dropped it, staring down at the red mark on your hand that you didn't realise you'd gotten. Did you burn yourself? Knowing your luck? Probably. But it wasn't hurting now so who gives a flying fucking shit. Certainly not you. Oh no, all you proverbial shits have been currently directed at the piece of shit cake with the piece of shit burnt top that you, the biggest piece of shit ever, burnt because you lack the proper skills in any sort of baking or cooking area.

"Sollux?" You didn't even hear the door open, had he already finished his exam?

You just look up, and you can feel the trembles coming as he just looks at you in confusion. "Hi." Your voice cracks and you press your hands against your eyes, hiding against your knees even as he drops beside you and wraps his arms around you.

"It... I.... It was just meant to be simple cake, just a fucking simple cake. A-And I fucked it up. I can't. I'm sorry. I c-can't even do something fucking nice for my boyfriend on his fucking birthday fuck!" Eridan hushes you, combing a hand through your hair and kissing your temple as you start to shake, the palms of your hands digging into your eyes.

"Hush love. Tell me what happened." He coaxes your hands from your face and you flinch when his fingers brush against the mark on your hand. Eridan's twisting your hand over before you can get a word in. He's got you standing and your hand under the running cold water within seconds, one arm wrapped around your waist as he kisses your temple. You're just looking at the cake. The fucking burnt cake.

"I tried... For your birthday. I wanted to do something for your birthday. And the fucking cake... It should've been easy but I fucked it up I can't even make a goddamn box mix fucking cake for my boyfriend!"

Eridan kisses you quiet, fingers wiping away the tears you didn't know were there. He looks tired, so fucking tired. The bags under his eyes are more like yours now, and you know it's because he's been flat out studying more than anything the past few nights to make sure he gets the mark he wants in his history extension exam. "It doesn't look completely burnt Sol. Look, it's just the top." He makes you hold you hand under the water as he grabs a tea towel and flips the cake tin upside down to bang on the bottom. The cake comes out smoothly enough, and it does only look like the top bit is burnt.

Eridan grabs the bread knife from the block and flips the cake back over, cutting off the burnt top bit and showing you the soft looking spongey middle. "See? It's just the top bit that's burnt because the oven's a dick when it's on top and bottom heat. You didn't burn the cake darlin'."

You just sniffle and look at it. "Were you going to put icing on it? Fancy decorations?" He's sighted the open shopping bag on the counter and grinning like a cheshire cat. "You even got those silver ball things! Whatever the fuck these things are called anyway."

"I thought their name was silver ball things."

"That's the normal people name for it. Rich people name for it is some fancy ass bullshit."

That gets a smile from you and you pull your hand away from the tap. "Then how come you don't know it?"

"Shut up Sol."

He comes over for kisses regardless, cradling your burnt hand and looking it over. "You haven't burnt it badly. You must've just glanced it off the edge of the oven or somethin'. I'll go find some arnica or some burn cream or whatever the fuck I have and get it wrapped up in cling film. You just keep it under the cold water okay?"

"Move the cake this way. I can decorate with one hand and I still want it to look at least presentable so I don't fail as badly." He frowns slightly but slides the cake over to you and brings you the decorations.

You tell him to go shower before he does anything else and wait until he's gone around the corner before setting about decorating the cake.

You maybe put too many decorations on but it's worth it to see Eridan smile as you cuddle with him on the couch and eat slightly dry cake.

He still fusses over your hand like a mother hen and doesn't shut up about it until you kiss him quiet and watch the movie he put in.

It's not until later, when you're sure he's fallen asleep on you does he really speak again. It's quiet, and you can feel his smile in the curve of his lips as he kisses your jaw. "Thanks Sol."

And you just nod, because it's all you can do when you sense rather than hear the layered meaning he's added. You kiss his temple and he smiles again, turning slightly to properly cuddle up to you.

"Don't you ever use the oven again when I'm not there though. I don't want you gettin' hurt you absolute dork."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am aware that it's not even remotely close to where Eridan's birthday would be. But, cake. Which is a valid arguement.
> 
> I am a bit indecisive about tomorrows Day, what do you guys think? Should i attempt for the sadstucks or ?
> 
> Thanks again for reading/kudos/comment!


	22. Day 22 - In battle, side-by-side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #descriptions of death, #descriptions of severe injures, #graphic descriptions (just incase), #vague descriptions,

“What the absolute shit are you doing here?!”

Sollux’s voice made you turn, keeping your head down as you raised an eyebrow at him.

True you weren’t really supposed to be out on the front line right now, your side was still throbbing painfully from the wound inflicted a few days ago by being too close to the fucking blast site. Which you had a very solid reason doing since it saved Vriska’s fucking life.

Sollux looks both furious and horrified to see you kneeling behind the massive rocks that littered this war ground. He moves to kneel next to you, gripping your shoulder and forcing you to look at him. “Eridan why are you here. You should be in the med tent not out on the front freaking line!”  
“There were short on shooters. I’m well enough to walk and hold a gun so they sent me out. It’s not a big deal Sol.”  
“Eridan you’re _injured_.”  
“I’m fine. It’s just bruisin’ jeez Sol stop actin’ like Fef will you?” You weren’t completely fine. But like you said, they were short on sharp shooters, and you were the best in your division so they sent you to whatever was left of the first charge.

The enemy you were fighting were ruthless, cruel, and played down right dirty. Which, considering they followed every single whim of the Empress was no surprise, but you could play just as dirty.

“Eridan-”  
“Sollux they need me out here. We don’t have enough trolls left to get through their front line. I only just managed to convince Nep an’ Ter to stay back okay. I’m fine, I can continue fightin’ for a hell’a lot while longer.”  
Depending if your wound held out you could definitely continue for a while, but you were a fucking seadweller so you automatically got this shit.

Sollux just swears at you and ducks at the sound of a nearby explosion, you don’t know what it was, and nor do you want to.

“C’mon, let’s get to somewhere better secluded so I can shoot the absolute soul-fucking shit outta them.” You grab Sollux by the forearm, pulling him with you as you darted around the side of the rocks and dutifully resisted the urge to flinch as the movement pulled at the stitches on your side. You’d taken as much numbing agent as you could before you left, and while you could no longer feel the pain in your gills, it doesn’t quite stop the sharp bolts of pain that come when you move your side or arm.

Sollux, thankfully, doesn’t notice.

You pull him down and press a hand to his mouth to keep him quiet. You can feel the quiet powering up of psionics and warn him with a look and a slight shake of your head.

There’s a troll standing right on the other side of where you are, but by the constant shuffling sound against the dirt, there’s a few more just beyond the tree line. You _need_ to get past them. If you can get past them, shut down the communicator and wipe out the powering to their main weapons doors, you can buy a hell of a lot of time and maybe knock the bitch tit of a pink sea shit for a long loop while Fef and Kar regroup everyone and formulate a new plan to get directly inside the empire.

You take a deep breath, letting it out slowly and letting go of Sollux. You slide the dagger from its sheath on your thigh, holding it lightly in your hand as you inch closer. Sollux will figure out what you’re planning soon enough, he’s smart like that. You pause, tense, wait, let out the breath you were holding and move closer again. Another has stepped into the clearing, you can’t tell how many are in the tree line now.

It’s risky.

It _needs_ to be done.

You wait, close your eyes and breathe.

The first one dies quickly, your dagger in the back of his neck and wrenching it sideways. The second one’s shout drew the rest, another four, but by then Sollux had permanently shut him up with a very quick snap of a neck. They were all big trolls, highbloods well past their first moult. Nothing lower than a dark blue. Great.

You take down another blueblood in a heartbeat, grappling with the other for enough room to draw the pistol you nicked from the office table. You fire three rounds into her chest before she drops, kicking her away from you as she reaches for her sword.

Sollux’s cry stops you short, has you whirling to face him.

He’s being held in the air by a dark purpleblood, feet kicking as he sparks and hisses, trying to claw the hands away from his throat. He must’ve been whacked across the horns if he can’t use his psionics properly. You’re already moving when you see the other purpleblood.

Your furious snarl makes them waver but he doesn’t drop Sollux and she still keeps moving towards him, lifting her arm as she did so.

You killed the one holding Sollux by sinking your claws into his neck and yanking out his jugular. Purpleblood sprays over Sollux but you couldn’t care less, spinning him behind you and twisting to try and get the other.

It hurts less than being sawn in half.

Her blades are sharp, clean. She still respects the honour of the old ways and in the belief of quick, clean deaths that weren’t sacrifices.

It goes right through your right side and rips out the other side. You feel your right arm go weak instantly, the blade dropping from your hand as you bite her wrist and yanking out her sword to deliver her own death blow before you fall to your knees.

The world’s tilting, spinning funnily and you pant for breath that doesn’t seem to be there. Where had the air gone?

Someone’s clutching your shoulders, pulling you up and shouting at you. You can feel the vibrations in the earth of more coming, and you push weakly at Sollux to stand.

 _Sollux._ You grab his arm, gripping him tight even as blood bubbles from your lips. “The generator… Sh-shut it down. Sollux _shut it down._ Cut off their c-communications.” You’re coughing, clinging to him as your force yourself to stand.

You’re not dead yet, you can take the rest.

He’s saying something stupid and you push at him, pulling him back to bite at his lips in a weird terrified desperation.  
“Shut it down Sol! I’ll take care’a…. care’a the rest.”

You shove him until he moves, pushing him until he stumbles and turns to run in the direction of the where it should be. You pull the Crosshair’s from your sylladex, turning and swaying on the spot as you lift her to your shoulder, looking down the scope. You are a seadweller, you are a fucking descendant of the great Orphaner Dualscar. You will not die from a stab wound. You will not let them kill him. You will not let Her win.

Ahab’s Crosshairs fall from your grip before you can stop it, and you just stare at the pure royal violet that’s all over your hand.

You can’t hear, everything’s gone strange and tinny. Your eyesight fading and sharpening in such alternating movements you feel sick.

There’s bodies littering the clearing, the ones from before and the ones you just killed.

You fall to your hands and knees, one hand pressed to the new wound on your chest. Your side is on fire, everything hurts and you cough, splattering the ground with violet.

It’s too much.

You can’t.

You’re unconscious before you hit the ground, the last thought you remember being black and white shoes and terrified lisping cries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend suggested I try writing sad without it being actually sad. So I just wrote this. Not sure if it's what she meant though. Oh well.  
> Thank you for reading!


	23. Day 23 - Arguing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #established relationships #sollux is a dick when in a downswing and stressed

“Are you _fucking kidding me!”_

The warning box that popped up on your screen made your heart stop.

“No. no no no no no no this _can’t_ be _happening!”_ You start typing rapidly, doing everything you can to bring up the screen you need. None of your keys are working, nothing is working. Fuck what the hell has he _done_.

“Eridan motherfucking Ampora where the shit are you!” your boyfriend was a fucking little shit how _dare_ he.

He knows how much your electronics meant to you, especially your computer. You’d spent a lot of time and money into it, and the new graphics card you brought not two weeks ago had cost you nearly an arm and a leg and now it was fucking _busted._

Eridan’s obviously just come through the door, his bag slung over his shoulder and his eyebrow raised. He hasn’t even taken his shoes off yet. You storm over to him, jabbing him the chest with your finger. His eyebrows only raise more.  
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”  
“Uh no?” He looks so confused, eyebrows pulled up and tilting his head to the left slightly like he always does when he’s too confused for proper words.

“You gave my computer a fucking _virus_ Eridan! Do you have any idea what that means?” He just looks at you.

You’re near tearing your hair out with frustration and he just looks like you accused him of using your soap again.

You half scream in frustration, yanking on your hair as you stomp a small circle.

“You have my computer a _virus,_ and you don’t even give a shit! Do you have any idea what you’ve done? All my files have probably been tampered with, the graphics card who fucking knows if the virus will affect that in any way.”  
“Sol I have no idea what you’re goin’ on about.” He’s slipped his bag from his shoulder, placing it on the couch and looking at you with his arms folded.

You want to slap him.

“You fucking _idiot!_ Eridan, I developed the anti-virus software we’re using. And you’ve gone ahead and download some fucking virus, probably _multiple_ looking at the sheer amount of shit that’s happening to my computer right now, and you don’t even give a flying fucking _shit!_ ”

He looks pissed now, but fuck him. You’re pissed.

Your boyfriend is the stupidest, most moronic piece of shit in the entire universe.

_Why_ do you continue to let him use your computer? Why did you _ever_ let him even touch your computer.

“Sollux I have literally no idea what you’re talk about it. So please use your fuckin’ words and explain to me what you are actually talkin’ about. I’ve had a shitty day too y’know, I don’t need more shit.”

You take a deep breath, trying to calm your horribly fast growing anger. You forgot to take your meds this morning, and from experience there was no use getting angry when you argued with him.

“Did you download anything in the past few days?”

He raises an eyebrow, cocking his hip slightly. “A few files from my email. One from my teacher, several from a few classmates. That’s all I’ve done, maybe _you’re_ the one who download the stupid virus.”  
You just stare at him. You can’t believe he just said that. Didn’t he hear you? You _wrote_ the fucking software that protected both of your systems.

“You think _I_ would download a fucking _virus_ into my own fucking _computer?!_ Are you terminally _insane?_ Eridan how can you be so fucking stupid!” You’re screaming at him, and you can see the beginnings of tears in his eyes.  
“Well I didn’t fuckin’ do it! There wasn’t any shit in your computer when you were usin’ it yesterday! I haven’t touched it since!”

Your hand moves before you even think, and the resounding noise of your palm connecting with his cheek makes you freeze.

He’s staring at you in horror, tears starting to slide down his cheeks and _oh no what have you done._

“Eridan I -.” He’s backing away from you, hands covering his cheek.

You slapped him. You _slapped him oh my god._

“Fuck you Sollux.” His voice is trembling and he backs away from you as you step forward, all your anger gone. You slapped him. You fucking slapped him. What is wrong with you? “You obviously care more about you’re fuckin’ computer than me. Fine.” He’s shaking, trembling and the tears are coming faster as he turns and just about sprints out of your apartment.

“Eridan wait!”

He slams the door on you, and you can hear his footsteps going down the hall.

You just stare at the door in horror.

You slapped him.

You slapped Eridan.

You’re a horrible boyfriend, why would you do that?

You slapped him over a _computer._

What the hell is wrong with you?


	24. Day 24 - Making up afterwards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck #established relationship #mentions of smoking

He slapped you.

He _slapped_ you.

Sollux slapped you.

You… you just can’t get your head around it. He slapped you. Your cheek is throbbing, and your tears have long since dried on your face and you’re just sitting there.

Karkat walked out of the room a few minutes ago, phone in his hand.

You didn’t really want to come to Kar’s. You knew he had Dave over right now, those two were doing some bullshit psychological crap. Kar told you about the thing he was doing, he’d not even look up at you when he was saying it but then again the papers in his hand look confusing as fuck so you couldn’t really blame him. You’d swapped your usual monthly romcom meet up with him so he could do this with Dave.

But then Sol slapped you and Fef was out of town and you didn’t know where else to go.

You should’ve just gone to Fef’s, you had the key to her place.

But you needed someone else. You needed to be around people.

And you’d nearly changed your mind even after you’d gone and knocked already. Dave had opened the door just as you started to turn away. He took one look at you, at your bright red cheek and your tearstained face and took your arm to lead inside. He sat you down and went to the kitchen, returning with a bag of peas and a tea towel, Karkat following him. You don’t need the peas Dave. But the gesture, after everything that had happened today, nearly made you cry again.

You’re ruining their study night thing.

Yeah you’re crying again.

Dave makes you keep the peas on your cheek for nearly ten minutes, despite it not really needing it in your opinion, and in that time you manage to get out what had happened.

Karkat leaves to go to his room with his phone and you just _know_ he’s going to call Sollux. You hope he doesn’t make him come here. You can’t talk to him right now.

All you did was download the task sheets from your professor and three files from two different classmates. Sollux had used his computer after you were done, and nothing had happened then! He must’ve opened something earlier from someone else and then whatever virus that had caused him to blow up at you must have been installed.

He was so _angry_. So angry and you didn’t understand why.

And then he… he hit you. Sollux hit you.

The shaking had started in your hands again. You can see Kar’s cigarettes, and the need for one has arisen even after so many years after you quit your addiction.

Dave’s gone to sit by Karkat or wherever the fuck he went. You wrap the peas up in the tea towel again, leaving it on the coffee table and nicking Kar’s pack of smokes. You pull yourself one, swiping his lighter and climbing out onto the fire escape. You light up, huddling against the wall as far away as you can from the window. Which isn’t very far but whatever.

The burn of nicotine calms your hands, but you can feel it’s not going to last. You should’ve grabbed the whole pack.

You can hear Karkat walking back, hear him angrily talking. He’s talking to Sollux, and you just want him to go away.  
“You want to know how bad you fucked up? _You want to know how bad you fucked up?!_  Sollux you _slapped_ your boyfriend. Isn’t that enough of a testament to how bad you fucked up?”  
You can’t hear Sollux’s reply, but you turn you heard just in time to see Karkat spot you out the window. He spies the cigarette and his face falls. He just looks at you and you turn away from him.  
“You’ve fucked up so much you asshole. When you can fucking think properly again, and when you can fucking realise that you just slapped you own fucking _boyfriend_ over a computer, then you can come over and you can be the one to take the damn smokes from him.”  
Karkat hangs up and climbs through the window to join you. You flick ash over the edge of the fire escape, ignoring him.

“… Where’s the pack?”  
“Inside.”  
Dave chucks it through the window, clambering out behind you with some shitty beer.  
They don’t say anything else, just sit with you. You cheek finally stops throbbing so much, and the nicotine makes everything so much calmer.

And then the door opens.

You press yourself further against the side of the rail, not even looking out the window. You’re on your third smoke now, and you know its Sollux, there’s no one else it would be. The shakes are back and you fumble for the packet again.

Sollux’s hand stop you, and you can’t help it. You flinch.

He yanks his hand back so fast you nearly flinch again.

Karkat and Dave have gone fuck knows where and you kind of wish they were still sitting out here with you. But you know all you have to do is raise your voice and you’ll have two stupidly idiotic friends dragging your boyfriend away. You don’t think you want that.

You love him, you really do.

But he hurt you.

“I…”

You don’t look at him. You just take another drag of your cigarette. Sollux’s shoulder slump and he just looks at you. The cheek he slapped is the one he’s looking at, and with the light coming from the living room makes the slowly fading mark obvious. 

You see his hand raise and you twist to look at him, cigarette hanging from your fingers. He only touches your cheek, fingers ghosting over your cheek and you can’t help the tears that start falling again as you take another pull.

“I’m sorry. I am… Holy shit I’m so sorry Eridan. I don’t… I…” He looks so distraught. “I… it was a downswing and-”  
“That’s no fuckin’ excuse.”  
“I know! I know. I… I just panicked… The warning popped up and I didn’t think and I thought it was you and I… I just…”  
He looks so horrified and shaken by what he did. What he’s done. And you… you love him. You love him so much it’s not fair. You love him. You _love_ him.  
“I hurt you. I hurt you I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I can’t even say how sorry I am. I don’t even know why I hurt you. I slapped you. I slapped you I’m so sorry. I… I just panicked and… and there was things on that computer that I need and I panicked and I thought it was you and I’m sorry.”  
You just look at him. You’re crying, he’s close to crying and you _hate_ Sollux crying. You cry a lot, you just do because you’re an emotional little bitch sometimes but Sollux crying is a horrible horrible thing. And you love him.

“You slapped me over a computer. You slapped me because you cared more for a computer.” Your voice is cold, even though it shakes and you’re crying but you’re so angry at him for what he did.

“I know. I _know_ I hurt you. I hurt you I am so sorry. I don’t understand why I did it I was angry please I’m sorry.”

You love him.

He hurt you.

He’s crying. And you know he didn’t mean it, you know he’s been stressed out over absolutely everything.

You lean over and wrap your arms around him, hugging him close to you and snuffing out the cigarette on the cold iron.

He clutches close to you and sobs against your shoulder and you just pet his hair because you can’t handle him crying. He’s shaking, he hasn’t eaten, you love him so much.

“I’m sorry. I love you.”  
“I know.”  
“Don’t…. don’t forgive me too easy. Don’t please. I hurt you. I love you.”  
“I know. It’s not fine. But I love you too. Don’t do it again.”  
“I love you.”  
“I know. I love you too." You kiss his forehead and hug him close, not even moving when he grabs the smokes and throws them back through the open window.


	25. Day 25 - Gazing into each other's eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #redrom #established relationship #matesprits #mentions of previous kismesistude

You quite honestly love his eyes.

Your matesprit (which was still kind of weird to call him), had some of the nicest eyes you’d ever seen. And not just the colour oh no, the shape of his eyes, the way they were wider, larger without his glasses and how the right one always scrunched up when you kissed his cheek or ruffled his immaculate do.

You loved his eyes.

Eridan… didn’t really. The glasses weren’t just a “fashion statement”, he really did need them to see. Seadweller eyes in general above water were rubbish. Feferi’s were only marginally better than Eridan’s, but that’s probably because she didn’t look at the almost blindingly bright laser beam from a legendary gun a lot.

He says it’s to make sure he hits his target. You know he just doesn’t want to miss.

Just like you know that he hates flaws.

He really does. Eridan hides his scarred neck gills under his scarf, and the slight skin blemishes and bioluminescent marks and scale-freckles under layers of clothing. He hates everything that doesn’t make him perfect, doesn’t make him what he so desperately wants to be.

And his eyes are probably the worse. He hates having to wear glasses, but if he doesn’t he walks into things and then that’d be even worse. So he picks out the most “stylish” glasses he can find, makes sure they’re practically impossible to tell if they’re real or not and hisses at people if they accuse him of having bad eyesight out of water.

You’ve been trying to change that. It’s hard, he even gets upset at you if you take them off his face to admire his eyes without the obscuring nature of glasses. His fins fold back and he just looks at you like he’s waiting for you to say something like you used to when you were his kismesis.

Sometimes you wonder if he doesn’t believe you really like him in a red way. After all, you only established the flip a few weeks ago when Feferi had exasperatedly told you to “glubbing flip on him already Sollux! It’s getting reel-y annoying to sea you two acting all red and nice and then try and black it out!”

That had been an interesting conversation.

As had the one with ED afterwards. You’d gone over to his place for once, and you could tell he was surprised that you were there, despite the instant narrowed eyes and the snarky remarks. You just told him you needed to talk and you saw the resignation in his eyes and the slight slump of his shoulders when he turned to let you inside without another word. You realised after that he was expecting you to call it off completely, not flip quadrants. It wasn’t a very good feeling when you thought about how he would be if you did call it off.

You got to see his eyes without obstruction that night. Really see them, without the manic pace of you two fucking or the slanted glares sent your way. He’d allowed you to take off his glasses and have a look, chewing on his lip until you had to kiss him to get him to stop.

He hasn’t willingly let you take them off since.

The only time you see him without his glasses is when he’s asleep and sometimes during pailing. Not a lot.

But he’s sleeping now, curled up against your chest with only the glow of the sopor illuminating you two in your dark room. Your coon was barely big enough for the both of you, but he slept curled up around you or against you anyway so it didn’t matter.

His glasses are next to yours on the table by your husktop, and you know that as soon as he wakes up he’s going to go straight for them and you don’t want that, you want to see him, see his eyes.

He chirps softly at you when he rouses from sleep, yawning wide and you wince as his jaw clicks. He only sighs and buries his face against your skin. You kiss his horn, holding him close to you and not letting him move.

He looks up after a bit, blinking sleepily and his cheeks are dusted with a soft violet from the low glow of his glowy spots.

You think they’re adorable. But secretly, you do have an image to maintain after all.

He kisses your jaw and smiles. You return it, useless wayward teeth on display because here, in the dark, you don’t care that he can see them. He laughs silently, a mere huffing against your neck before you catch his chin and tilt his head up to look at you again.

His eyes really are beautiful. The deep violet, streaked with lighter and ringed in black and gold. Much better than your solid red and blue (though red and blue are the best colours. Mixing them together and you get something close to violet is just a bonus). His brow furrows slightly and you can tell by the tensing in his arms that he’s going to push himself up and away from you to get his glasses.

Your arms tighten instantly, keeping him with you. He looks confused, fins pulling back and you don’t want to see him like that. You try and kiss the expression off of his face, holding him close to you.

He blinks, long lashes catching the light of the sopor briefly. You kiss him again because you can before going back to looking at his eyes.

You know he’s studying your own just as much.

You kiss him again, settling back in the sopor and just watching him blink his gorgeous eyes sleepily and smile, lips pulled up slightly as he kisses your jaw and cuddles back up to you, content to go sleep for another few hours. You’re happy, he let you see his eyes.

Now you just need to get him to see the rest of himself in the same light you see him.

Perfect and slightly annoying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments/kudos!


	26. Day  26 - Getting married / Proposing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck, #established relationship,

You were nervous.

Sollux had deemed it in your best interest to go out on a rather impromptu date with him. And you say impromptu because up until about an hour ago, he was working flat of his ass to complete this one code that would definitely secure his place in the fancy college course he wanted to get into.

But then he just stood up, slipped your bookmark in between the pages of the novel you were reading and pulled you to stand. He told you to dress casual, kissing you briefly before going straight to the bathroom.

It’s confused the hell out of you. And you’re still confused now and Sollux isn’t answering any of your questions and he’s holding onto the steering wheel so tight his knuckles are white.

It’s a nice night out, and you figure out where you’re going soon enough. The little park by the beach where you went on your first date and you’d taken Fef’s Super Soakers and absolutely drenched each other for a few hours. That’d been fun.

But now you’re worried. Why isn’t he answering you. You hate his poker face, it could rival Strider’s on a good day. And it pissed you off because you _don’t know what the fuck was going on._

“Sollux what the hell are we doin’? If this was a normal date you wouldn’t be actin’ like such a shifty bastard.” You’ve got your arms folded, shoulders hunched slightly as you stared at him. He pulled a picnic basket out of the trunk and pulled your arms away from your chest. He takes you hand, leading you through the park and to the beach, plopping down up a bit from the tide pools. The sun had set nearly an hour ago.

You’re getting more and more nervous and confused as time drags on.

He opens the picnic basket, pulling out all your favourite snack foods and a few drinks and sitting down in the sand.

You follow to sit with him hesitantly, staring at his face.

The sky is still painted a barrage of beautiful colours, the midnight blue of the night just started to bite away the edges of the sunset.

Sollux offers you some food, diced watermelon and grapes and you take a few, watching him instead of the waves.

You wonder if he’s just buttering you up to dump you nicely, doing it gently so as to give you something to remember by.

You ration that you’re going to be a sobbing snivelling mess if that happens. You’ve been with him nearly four years now, you don’t want to be without him just yet.

Sollux takes a deep breath and you look up from where you’ve been periodically shredding grapes of their skin. He’s taken his glasses off and he looks so nice. He’s got his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his jeans have got sand on the bottom and he’s fiddling nervously with the leg of his glasses.

He takes another deep breath and you swear if he takes another you’re going to die.

“Eridan. I um…”  
He stops, chewing his lip, and you know for certain that he’s going to break up with you. Sollux Captor is usually blunt and crass and him acting hesitant means he’s either up to something or not really wanting to do what he’s about to.

You don’t want to break up with him, you would beg on hands and knees if he did.

Your hands have started to shake and you just put down the grape, not caring that it’s now covered in sand. You don’t look at him, you just look at the ring on your right forefinger that you’re twisting around and around and around. You just want him to get it over with.

You can hear him shifting about, probably digging something out of his pocket like his phone or whatever.

Whatever it is he places it on the top of the picnic basket between you. When you glance at him he’s chewing on his lip, glasses still off. You love his eyes.

He nods to what he’s placed on the basket and at first you don’t look, too caught up in watching the colours shift within his eyes as the sky darkens.

When you do finally tear your gaze away you’re confused, it’s just a box. Just a small box no bigger than your palm.

“Open it.” You reach for it with numb fingers, wondering if he took a leaf out of Vriska’s book and had just written a note for you to say you weren’t together anymore and by the time you’re finished reading it he’s left.

But he’s still there when you glance at him as you pick up the box, he’s still chewing on his lip and your eyebrows furrow, reaching out to drag his lip away from his teeth and he bats your hands away.  
“Just please open it before I puke up energy drinks and watermelon.”  
You do as you’re told, staring at him as you flip the lid of the box.

Inside is a ring.

And your stomach drops and your heart soars and you just know your mouth is open.

It’s a beautiful ring, not as big as some as yours but you don’t think you would want it to be. It’s got an opal in the centre, like the ones they use to sell for a high price back home, and the gold band is twisted intricately. Your hands are shaking as you hold the box, and as you carefully place it back down you can see Sol’s face fall.

You attack him with a hug instead, pushing him back against the sand and kissing him, fingers clutching at his shirt.

“You asshole,” your voice is wavering and you’ve just got dust in your eyes, that’s all. “I thought you were gonna break up with me.” You’re kissing him, sniffling and hugging him tight.

He laughs, a relieved sound and sits upright, pulling you into his lap as he does so. He grabs the box, pulling the ring out and sliding it onto your ring finger with minimal difficulty.

Sollux’s hands are shaking just as much as yours.

“So I take that as a yes?”  
“Yeah.” You’re still sniffling, turning so you can kiss him again.

You’ve been with Sollux for nearly four years, and you’re very very thankful to say that you’re going to be with him a lot lot longer.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was more comfortable writing a proposal than an actual marriage scene... oh well.  
> thanks for reading!


	27. Day  27 - On one of their birthday's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck, #established relationship
> 
> I guess I could've done day 21 for this, but I had a different idea so I just split them into these two chapters.

Eridan was up to something.

You _know_ he is. For one, he doesn’t come to bed until either really late or not at all when he’s up to something. Another is that he doesn’t let you really look at the shit he’s got on his computer.

He only sometimes shows you the sketches and shit he’s got on there anyway but that’s irrelevant. He’s up to something now and you have no idea what it is.

But you’re tired, because you’ve been working your ass off, juggling work, the coding project you have, and you classes. Your classes aren’t that bad, you can generally work on other stuff then but because of everything else you haven’t been spending as much time with your boyfriend as you’d like.

You know he doesn’t mind, definitely not as much as he should. Jeez even you mind it when he focuses so hard on his schoolwork and forgets everything to get the damn paper done and drafted and double checked and _‘Everythin’ has to be good Sol I need the marks on this!’_

But he’s up to something and you’re tired and you just want to sleep and you can’t focus on anything right now and he’s tucking you into bed like you’re a child and kissing your forehead and leaving to go do whatever and you’ve got the sweetest fucking boyfriend ever. Even when he’s being a moody, surly little shit who both wants and doesn’t want attention and gets anxious and twitchy. You fucking love the dork.

You’re out of it much sooner than you’d like, and when you wake up, it’s Karkat who’s in your apartment, not Eridan.

The first words out of your mouth are horribly rude, but you don’t give a shit. You were expecting boyfriend not cranky friend who sleeps about as much as you do.

He just tells you to get dressed because he’s taking you out to breakfast because you’re a reclusive nerd who spends too much time with a computer.

You don’t _want_ Karkat. You want Eridan.

But your boyfriend is nowhere to be seen, so you guess you can deal with Karkat.

He takes you out for shitty coffee and okay sandwiches, bitching and groaning about whatever the fuck he wants to. You’re only half listening, still half asleep and wondering where Eridan went off to.

KK’s phone vibrates on the table between you after nearly an hour after you join in bitching about the new release super smash and how Kirby is still better than freaking Link thank you very much. He rolls his eyes at the message, standing up and going to pay and telling you that you can fuck off home now.

You bid him good fucking bye asshole and head home, going as fast as you can because maybe Eridan’s home yet and if not your bed is calling to you.

You take a minute to actually remember how keys work, getting the right one in the lock after a second or two and swing the door open. The living room’s darkish, the curtains drawn and Eridan’s curled up asleep on the couch. You can’t help it, you smile and walk over to him after you’ve locked the door, toeing off your shoes and gently snuggling up next to him.

He stirs almost instantly, arms wrapping around your waist and cuddling you close. You both like the aircon on cool, so it’s pretty cold in your apartment. Not that you mind that much, Eridan’s giving off a bit of body heat right now, and you’re bound to warm him up fully as soon as he lets you fall asleep.

Which he appears not to be letting you doing what the hell ED.  
“Hush lemme sleep.”  
“Sol no. C’mon. Love just stay awake for a little bit longer. I got somethin’ for you.”  
“Mm.” You just groan at him, burying your face against his stupidly soft scarf.

He coaxes you up, wrapping you up in the blanket he was half lying under and standing up to head to the kitchen. You wonder if he’s going to make you something to eat. You like Eridan’s cooking.

He instead comes back with a plate filled with food and a gift wrapped box. Huh?

He kisses your forehead, squirming his way back into the blankets and wrapping his arms around your waist again, balancing the plate (which you now realise is filled with those bread things he makes that has sugary pieces and stuff in that tastes so yummy) on the couch cushions and kissing your temple.

“Happy birthday love.”

Oh. That was a thing that was happening yeah…

You just blink for a minute before turning to kiss him, careful so that you don’t disrupt the plate.

“I know you’ve been workin’ hard an’ that you don’t really like parties an’ get togethers an’ stuff so I got Kar to get you outta the house while I finished those off an’ yeah.” You just bury your face against his neck, hugging him tight.  
“Forgot it was my birthday actually…”  
“Oh Sol you dunce. Good thing I’ve gone an’ done this hey? Go on, open your present.”  
“I swear Eridan if you got me something outrageously expensive I’m putting you on washing up duty for the next month.”  
“Harsh.” He’s grinning though, and maybe you are too but whatever. You pop a slice of the bread in your mouth, chewing as you start to tear the wrapper off the present.

He didn’t.

 _Eridan_.

You open pick up the first thing in the box, flipping over and reading the blurb of the damn game you’ve been wanting since it became available to the public. You just look up at him and he grins, smug. He gestures back to the box with a tilt of his head and you dig back in, pulling out the several bags of those weirdass delicious as fuck marshmallows and foreign sweets.  
You whine, covering your face, “ _Eridan_ goddamn you.”  
“I take it I did well?”  
“You asshole. How did you even find all this? How did you even _know_ I wanted this?”  
“Well the sweets were a lucky guess, an’ with the game I asked your brother an’ Kar about it.”  
“You asked Tuna?”  
“Yeah… You don’t mind?”  
“No it’s just… how did you get him to keep from telling me? I’ve been speaking to him on and off for the past few weeks.”  
He shrugs, looking sheepish, “I told him I was tryin’ to do somethin’ nice for you on your birthday. S’all.”

You kiss him, silencing any further words and smiling as you draw back.

“It’s great. I love it, thank you.”  
He grins like a fool, hugging you close and resting his chin on your shoulder.  
“Good. Does this mean I’m not on washin’ up duty for a month?”

You hit his shoulder lightly, grinning as well.

“Maybe. You gotta convince me first.”  
He rolls his eyes and kisses you softly, and his lips taste like sugar and you just know he was eating the crunchy bits of sugar for the bread like you know he does.

Sweet-toothed asshole, he’s such a freaking dork it’s almost impossible to deal with.

But on occasions like these, you’re so very glad you do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou for reading!


	28. Day 28 - Doing something ridicules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #post game, #actual friendship erisol, #that's it. #also pillowforts

“Eridan no.”  
“Eridan yes.”

Sollux looks completely unamused. He just crosses his arms and looks at you.

It’s not the stupidest offer you’ve made to do with him, but it’s certainly nearing the top.

But what can you say, human culture has rubbed off on you.

Plus you had the right materials because you got fucking cold really easy. And there was enough room in the weird lounge room thing.

Sollux still looks unamused.

“Sol come _on_.”  
“Eridan no. what the hell are you even asking me to do.”  
“I want you to build a pillow fort with me.”  
“The fuck is that.”  
“You know! Those fort things that humans build! Come on Sol, just help me build one and then you can go do whatever.”  
He just looks at you, and you can feel the anxiety coming back again and you’re already shifting to escape to your room, fins pulling back against your head.

After the game… after you got brought back… you’d been kind of avoiding anything you used to do as much as you could. You’d been doing pretty well, at least to your standards.

You’d even fixed the fucking stutter that annoyed everyone. It still showed its face when you got really excited over stuff. But you’ve been doing okay. You made sure you did. You can’t fuck up again. You can’t hurt anyone ever again.

You know Sollux didn’t want to have to share a weird flat dorm hive thing with you. But everyone else had paired up and he’d been left with you since Feferi nabbed Aradia and Karkat ended up with who fucking knows. Gamzee or Dave probably.

And so you got paired up with Sollux and you’ve slammed shut on everything that made people annoyed by your behaviour.

The scarves don’t leave though. Scarves are awesome.

But Sollux… he’s gotten better as well. You think it’s because of the time you two spent as a sprite.

And he’s still fucking looking at you though. Just looking and not saying anything and you’ve already turned, heading back to your room, muttering a near silent "don’t worry about it” as you did so.

You shut the door to your room, sticking your tongue out at the door before surveying your room. It’s alright you guess, nothing like your old hive. At least you’re close to other people and trolls now.

You look at it again, then back at the door. Fine, if he didn’t want to help you even build it then whatever. You can still do it. It’ll just take longer. You’re already pulling off the blankets for the funny human sleeping rectangle, kicking at the mattress to get it off the frame and on the floor. You shove it into the empty corner of your room, moving your squishy chair to the side and arranging the blankets as you see fit.

You could do with more blankets.

You open up the door, chewing on the end of your scarf as you make you way down the hallway a bit to the cupboard where both of you stored all your warming tarps and pillows. You grab as many as you can hold, arms full of blankets and pillows as you walk back to your room.

But of course because you just had to have as many as you can carry, you can’t fucking see and you walk straight into Sollux.

“You’re adamant on building one of these things aren’t you?”  
You just huff at him, picking up the fallen pillows and when half of the blankets fall out of your arms you just throw your hands up, fins flicking in annoyance. You grab half, stepping around Sollux and continuing back to your room to dump it all on the floor before going back for the rest.

Only to find that Sollux has picked it all up and was standing in your doorway looking at the attempt you’d done in the corner of your room. Your cheeks heat up and you grab the stuff from him, muttering a quick thanks before attempting to close the door on him.

Fuck all you wanted to do was build a pillow fort.

“It looks comfortable as shit.”  
“It’s gonna look even better once I’m finished addin’ all of this.” You shove the pillows against the wall under the blanket being held up by three books and a box of crap. Literal crap, there’s so much junk in that box.

Sollux… he’s in your room now. Your fins are flicking back and forth and why the hell is he in your room. You would’ve thought he’d gone to go play a video game or whatever.

He just grabs blankets and helps you shove them in reasonable place.

It does look comfy.

You purse you lips, turning your head this way and that to look at it. And in the end you just shrug, grabbing your husktop from the desk and crawling in.

“Holy shit these things are amazin’.” You can’t help that you sound excited. You just can’t. Pillow forts are the best.

Sollux crouches down in front of you and just looks at the set up you’ve made. He grins and disappears, coming back a few minutes later with a bowl full of those crunchy things and his own husktop. He nudges you over, still smirking slightly and settles against the wall.

“You got any games on that?”  
“A few. Why?”  
“Gonna kick your ass in ‘em. KK won’t play with me anymore ‘because I’m better than him.”

You just raise an eyebrow.

“Shut up Eridan and turn on your damn husktop.”

Pillow forts really are the best.

You’ll have to thank Jade when you see her next for telling you about them, because you think they just got you a proper gaming friendship with Sollux.

Plus they’re really really comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not my best, but all I could get out with the studying I'm doing.  
> thanks for reading!


	29. Day 29 - Doing something sweet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #humanstuck, #roommates, #casual eventual friendship probably

He always goes up to the roof on clear nights.

Always up to the roof and sometimes he doesn’t come down until the next morning.

One time he didn’t come down until nearly ten the next morning.

It’s so weird, you have no idea what Eridan does up there. And tonight if he goes up again you’re fucking following him because you are so sick of your nerd of a roommate getting colds and practically no sleep when he goes up there.

Eridan is… different. But you didn’t really expect him to be the sort to do these kind of things, he looks like the kind of guy who’d blare stupid hipster music at full blast and drinks shitty coffee from Starbucks.

He’s not. From what you’ve gleaned from both his laptop when you walked past him working on the counter in the kitchen and walking past his room, he writes historic fiction and studies languages, both dead crap (you fucking knew it was Latin) and modern-y ones. He listens to Two Steps from Hell rather than bullshit (props to you Ampora didn’t know you’d have heard of it), along with whatever’s on the radio at the moment, and he drinks tea. Like so many different types of tea it’s insane.

The herbal ones smell nice and the ice teas are awesome on hot days so you guess it’s alright.

 But you still can’t figure out why he goes up to the roof on clear nights. And during winter, there’s a lot of them.

You don’t ask, mainly because it’s got this vibe about it that makes you twitchy, but you’re a curious fucker and this has been going on since he moved in with you.

You don’t know anything else about him bar his name and his age.

It’s weird, but then again he doesn’t know anything else about you.

You wait nearly an hour after he leaves before heading for the door, zipping up your hoodie because it’s freaking cold outside and locking the door behind you. You head up to the roof, cursing the fact that you live a few floors beneath it and that you’re so unfit. You’re a coder not an athlete, or even prone to exercise to be honest.

Eridan’s sitting by the ledge when you finally reach the roof, holding a thermos flask in his hands and staring up at the sky. He looks around as you open the door, raising an eyebrow at you.  
“Wa’cha doin’ here.” He’s also Scottish. That was also a thing that pissed you off occasionally.  
“Came to see what you found so interesting about a roof on clear fucking nights Ampora.” You shove your hands deep in your pockets, standing a bit a ways from him. His nose has already gone pink from the cold, that much you can see from the light of the town below.

He shrugged, turning back to face the sky, “I like it up here. S’nice an’ quiet an’ the sky’s beautiful.”  
You glance up, not really seeing what he obviously does. “You’re up here nearly all night Eridan, the fuck do you do? Just stare at the sky and hope to not freeze to death?”  
He snickers, shifting and standing to move back towards you. “Pretty much. I ain’t got much better to do with my nights, might as well come up here.”  
You raise both eyebrows again, shifting slightly where you stand. “… I don’t get it.”

He rolls his eyes, going to sit against the aircon duct and gesturing for you to join him. You do because you don’t want to look like even more of a fool. Why the hell did you come up here?

He waits until you’re sitting before speaking, staring up at the sky. “On clear nights I can see the sky better. Its beautiful durin’ winter, look.” He lifts his arm, pointing up. You follow with your eyes, looking up. If you narrow your eyes you can just see the stars. Eridan’s hands nearing your face make you look back at him quickly, almost glaring at him.  
“No just look. I’ll show you.” You stare at him in disbelief and he rolls his eyes, tilting your face up and using his hands to blot out the glare from the lights below.

The entire sky becomes clearer.

You feel your eyes widen in amazement, mouth falling open slightly. You bat his hands away to do it yourself, blocking out the lights made by people and staring up at the pinpricks of light in the inky black sky.

“You come up here to see the stars?” your voice is unintentionally quiet. He is weird. But you can kind of see why he does it.  
“Yeah, I like it. It reminds me a home as well an’ I can see all the constellations an’ once I saw Jupiter real clear.”  
You lower your hands, still staring up at the sky.

You never considered this. There’s a kind of dwarfing beauty about the night sky, it’s like an outlet into space, the only space a lot people will ever get to see without electronics.  
It’s intimidating.

You spend another three hours up there, listening to Eridan tell you stories about constellations and legends from so many cultures you lose track.

But it’s nice, and you guess you could say relaxing in a way.

You make him come back to the apartment with you though, not wanting to deal with horribly coughy Eridan again because it disrupts your concentration.

He just rolls his eyes at you and goes to read a book or some weird shit.

He doesn’t say anything when you join him up on the roof on the next clear night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can do sweet things with friends too. And I haven't done a lot of friend chapters in this one, so I decided to do this one like that.  
> Oh well, thanks for reading!


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #established relationship #post game #quadrant vacillation #implied sexual content

There’s always a feeling in the air when he’s over.

It differs only slightly, depending on how he wants you. It’s more electric when he demands it black, more soft like the little waves that used to lap the shores of your hive when he asks for it red.

You love him and you hate him in equal breath. You don’t care that you’re probably breaking a gazillion rules and whatnot. You don’t care, this isn’t Alternia. This is some fucked up hybrid between your home planet and the humans, and it works. It really does. You like it better here, and no one judges you for what you have with Sollux. They don’t care, he doesn’t care that much and you only cared a little in the beginning.

He wanted you red today, and you were only too happy to agree. You feel like you love him more than you hate him, adore him more than you despise him, and lying there with him cuddled up against your chest on the clean bit of the platform, you’ve never been happier.

(You had him this time, it was great)

He’s asleep, you’re not. He’s been up too late again, you can tell by the bags under his eyes and how he barely managed to kiss you before he fell asleep against your chest. You’re not fussed, it’s not like you haven’t fallen asleep in material before. And while that was, and still is, actually really fucking gross, you guess you don’t mind in the face of cuddling Sollux.  

He groans softly in his sleep, shifting against your chest and you hush him softly, hand combing through his hair. He shivers slightly at the touch, and you look for a blanket that’s close enough to grab and not completely covered in slowly drying gross material. (His fault. Completely his fault, if he’d just let you take off the damn blankets before he attacked your gills with flicks of his dumb split tongue you wouldn’t be having this problem.)

You stretch as much as his weight allows you, snagging the edge of the blanket on the floor and pulling it up over the top of you both. Sollux sighs and cuddles close, pressing his face against your neck. His nose is way too close to your gills for your liking, and you reposition his head carefully, trying not to wake him.

It doesn’t work. He grumbles again and bats at your hands, tucking his head under your chin and you’re nearly gored on horns.

“Jesus Sol, mind your horns will you.”   
“Shut the fuck up, stop wriggling around and let me sleep asshole.”  
“Maybe I will if you stopped movin’. I was tryin’ to get the blanket that isn’t stained in material thank you very much.” His face flushes and you grin, despite the fact that he’s still got his eyes closed.  
He peeks them open to look at you and your grin softens to a smile as you kiss his forehead, rolling slightly so that you’re both on your sides and Sollux is cuddled up to your chest.

He snakes his arms around your waist and grumbles at you. You just huff a laugh and nudge his horn lightly.  
His sigh makes you shiver and you squirm so that he’s higher up and not breathing weirdly against your chest. Sollux bops you on the shoulder and you hush him again, nuzzling his chin.

Stupid asshole has a weird effect on you.

You love it.

Sollux smiles against you neck and you feel his tongue dart out and slide along the gill cover on your neck. His teeth follow next and you can’t help the gasp.  
Right in his ear.   
He grins, it’s more of a smirk now, and does it again.

Stupid asshole also knows how to work you up juuust right.

You whine at him, and he nips again and fuck come on.   
“Are you serious.”   
“I’m always serious.” He does the fucking eyebrow wiggle and licks his lips. He waggles his tongue at you when you raise an eyebrow and you kiss him, because no way in hell are you going to refuse sex.

Plus Sollux is hilarious when he’s trying to be sexy. He looks like a fucking dunce.

You roll him onto his back and hold yourself up over him.

He smiles at you and you just return it, letting yourself down to lie on top of him. He attacks your gills again almost instantly.

Fuck that’s sensitive.   
“Sol.”  
“ED.” He mimics your tone, and fucking grins again and you bite at him, snapping your teeth playfully.  
He just goes back to your gills, rolling you both again and _groooosss_ your hand just landed in a wet spot.

Sollux laughs at you and you just hiss at him, shoving your hand right on his chest and now he’s the one making a grossed out face.   
“Eridan that’s fucking gross.”  
“S’your fault.”  
“It’s _your_ fault.”  
It’s both of your faults.

Sollux nips at your nose, still smirking the asshole. You stick your tongue out and he rolls his eyes.

You kiss him easily enough, letting him push your hands back against the platform.

You both like to share the top, and you had it last so technically according to prior agreement, it’s his turn.

You don’t mind, its fun a lot of the time.

Plus he’s fucking hot when he’s controlling.

But shh, it’ll just stoke his ego.

Sollux trails his stupidly nice biting kisses down your neck, and you just sigh, tilting your head back slightly.

You love him, you really do.

You love him, you hate him, and god you wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! thank you all for reading, kudos etc!


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